


Running Home to You

by aNerdObsessed



Series: Running Home to You [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Bruno Mars Wakes Comatose Patient, Finn Likes Tests, Finn is a Total Fangirl, Flash AU, Just for kicks and giggles, Let's See Where This Thing Goes, Lightning Gave Me Abs?, Lightning strikes, Luke Has Impeccable Timing, Metahumans Galore, Modern AU, NaNoWriMo, Rey Allen is the Flash, Rey Needs A Hug, Rey Puts Out Fires, Rey and Ben Make Eye Contact, Rey and Rose are Both Strong Independent WomenTM, ReyloWriMo, Speedster Road Rash is the Worst, Tragic Beginnings, a sprinkle of angst, run rey run
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-08-14 11:26:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 44,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16491683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aNerdObsessed/pseuds/aNerdObsessed
Summary: My name is Rey Allen. And I am the fastest woman alive. When I was a child I saw my parents killed by something impossible. Then an accident made me the impossible. To the outside world I am an ordinary forensic scientist, but secretly I use my speed to fight crime and find others like me. And one day, I'll find who killed my parents and get justice for their killer. I am… the Flash.(ON HIATUS)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my contribution to Nanowrimo, and in that spirit, this work hasn't really been edited before posting (read: literally word vomit). Typos, grammar, etc. will be fixed as time allows!
> 
> Find me on [tumblr](https://a-nerd-obsessed.tumblr.com/)

_My name is Rey Allen. And I am the fastest woman alive. When I was a_ _child_ _I saw my parents killed by something impossible. Then an accident made me the impossible. To the outside world I am an ordinary forensic scientist, but secretly I use my speed to fight crime and find others like me. And one day, I'll find who killed my parents and get justice for their killer. I am… the Flash._

"Rey, you better be done brushing your teeth!” Nora Allen called up the main floor. “I expect you to be in your pajamas when I walk up these stairs!”

“I am, Mom!” Rey shouted back from the bathroom as she struggled to slide her Captain America sleep shirt over her head while frantically scrubbing at her teeth. Somehow, she managed it, spitting out the minty toothpaste before turning on the faucet and swishing water in her mouth. Once she had rubbed her face with a towel, she scurried across the hall to her room and jumped up on her four-poster bed. 

Rey loved her room, convinced she was the luckiest ten-year-old in Cloud City. It wasn’t the typical ten-year-old girl’s room filled with princesses and the beginnings of boy band obsessions. No, Rey preferred Legos and superheroes, having gone to see the first Avengers movie on a daddy-daughter date with her father. Now it was their special thing, going to see every movie when it came out in theaters. That obsession was only matched by her love for soccer, with posters of the Cloud City Speedsters and the Coronet City Resistance covering her wall.

“Hey, baby girl.”

Rey stopped snuggling under her covers to see her dad, Dr. Henry Allen, poke his head in the door. “Hey, daddy.” 

“You ready for the big game tomorrow?”

“Yes!” She sat up eagerly.

“Of course you are. But remember, good soccer players like you need to get their rest, so make sure to turn off your light soon.”

“I’m waiting for Mom!” Rey protested.

“Alright, baby girl.” He came into the room and bent over her bed, leaving a kiss on her forehead. “Good night, Rey.”

Rey smiled, breathing in the familiar smell of his aftershave that still lingered after a long day at the clinic. “’Night, daddy.”

On his way out of the room, he met her mother coming in and pressed a kiss to her lips. “Don’t take too long, honey.” He glared at Rey, but was given away by the smile tugging on his lips. “That little trickster tries to get away from her bedtime.”

“Hey!”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got her handled,” Nora replied, kissing him back, taking a little longer this time.

“Ew, stop it!” Rey said, covering her eyes. Her parents chuckled.

“Alright, let me tuck this little girl in for the night and I’ll be right down,” Nora said.

Henry left and Rey heard him walk down the stairs, stepping on the squeaky fifth tread on the way. Her mother came and sat down on the bed, smoothing the covers.

“You ready for the big game tomorrow?”

“We're playing the Chipmunks, Mom. We could beat them in our sleep.”

Her mother laughed. “I’m sure you could. But don’t be too mean. It’s not nice to rub it in, ok? It’s just for fun.”

“But winning is fun,” Rey pointed out obstinately. 

“Oh, Rey,” Nora sighed, cupping her cheek. “My little fighter. You ready for lights out?”

“I’m thirsty,” Rey said.

“Nice try. Lucky for you, I brought up this glass of water, so you don’t even have to leave your bed,” her mom said, holding up her other hand and revealing a full cup of liquid. Rey deflated slightly, but took the glass and sipped a little before handing it back to Nora, who set it on the nightstand.

“Turn around so I can undo your hair,” Nora ordered and Rey obeyed, bouncing around so that she was sitting on her knees while her mother removed the elastics holding her three buns in place. She reached over and got a hairbrush out of the nightstand at the head of the bed and smoothed Rey's brown locks out. 

“Alright, Rey, snuggle up,” her mother said, standing and patting the bed. Rey dived under the covers and pulled them up to her chin, her face split in a grin. Nora reached over and smoothed the comforter up to her neck, bending down to kiss her forehead. “Good night, my Rey of sunshine.”

“Good night, Mom.”

Nora flipped off the switch so that the room was illuminated only by the small nightlight shaped like a soccer ball, blowing another kiss that was silhouetted by the light from the hall. Rey giggled as the door clicked shut. She heard her mother walk down the stairs, then the distant murmur of voices and the faint clink of dishes below as her parents went about their evening activities. Rey lay awake for a while, just listening to the sounds of quiet domesticity surrounding her. She snuggled deeper under the covers, relaxing into the warmth and peace she felt as her eyes drifted shut.

 

~---~

 

Rey jolted awake. She wasn’t sure what had woken her, and she sat up, looking around her room blearily. The house was quiet and the curtains covering her window weren’t letting in any sign of sunlight from the outside. She was sure her mother hadn’t called her to wake up; it still felt too early.

 _CRASH_.

Rey jumped. Something had made a loud noise downstairs, and she threw back the covers without a second thought and set her bare feet on the cold floorboards. A movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention and she looked over at her nightstand. The water that she’d left from earlier was still there, but it was  _floating_. She watched in awe as it rose into the air, twisting and undulating. 

“ _HENRY_!” 

Her mother’s scream echoed through the house, the noises from below growing in volume. Rey threw open her door and tiptoed down the stairs, her legs shaking. Nora screamed again and as Rey crept closer, she heard a strange rushing noise intermingled with the sounds of large objects crashing and banging together. Rey peeked around the banister and was stunned by what she saw.

Her mother was kneeling in the living room, trapped in place as a swirling, snapping vortex of lightning crackled around her. 

“ _Henry!”_ Nora called out again, more desperate and frightened than Rey had ever heard her mother sound. The windows suddenly blew out, scattering bits of glass across the carpet and into the entryway at the foot of the stairs, making Rey flinch as she continued to descend. 

“Mom?” she called, fright choking her voice. Her mother saw her then, raising a hand as her hair whipped around her head.

“Rey, baby, stay there! Please!” she sobbed. 

The lightning cyclone intensified, demolishing the furniture in the living room, red and yellow crackling around Nora, causing her to shriek. 

Rey stepped closer. “Mom!”

Suddenly her dad was behind her, pulling her away. “Rey, get back!”

“Dad! Mom!”

“Run, Rey, run! Get away!” Henry said, pushing her towards the door.

“But Mom – “

“I said run, Rey!” her father shouted before turning back to the destruction in the living room. Rey hesitated, wide eyes staring at her sobbing mother and her helpless father as the lightning raged. She saw then, in the corner, a blurred figure of a man in yellow, just for a split second, and then she blinked and he was gone, swept up in the whirling lightning. 

Rey opened her mouth, about to call out and warn them, to tell her parents what she’d seen, but then she blinked again and felt a sharp tug, and suddenly she was standing in the middle of a road.

She fell over, unbalanced, the grit of the road digging into her palms. She was breathing hard, her limbs shaking as she pushed herself back up and turned around, trying to get her bearings. She was on a residential street with houses that looked like hers, but the night and the yellow glow of the streetlights made everything look much more ominous. She shivered harder, the cool night air that already carried hints of winter cutting through her thin pajamas.

“Mom?” she said, her voice swallowed up by the night. “Dad?”

No one answered. The street was silent. Rey clutched her arms and began to wander, accompanied only by the sound of crickets in late summer. Even though there were no cars at that hour of the night, she made her way to the sidewalk because Rey knew her mother wouldn’t want her in the street. 

She was shivering hard by the time she saw the flashing lights painting the street in red and blue. She turned the corner, drawn not by curiosity, as emotions had been strangely absent for a while now, but more by the idea of people and activity. As she got closer, Rey noticed that there were several police cars and an ambulance in front of one of the houses. A uniformed officer was going around the yard, stringing up yellow tape. She came closer, her latent inquisitiveness finally making an appearance, wondering what had happened in the house to cause all the disturbance. 

That’s when Rey saw the front door, now ajar and letting the cops into the house. It was the front door she had colored on with permanent marker as a five-year-old, a trendy slate gray color that still bore the smudges of her artwork that her father could never quite erase, despite using several chemicals. And that was the yard where she played pretend as a seven-year-old, imagining she was superhero defeating the bad guy, usually a reluctant Ben Solo from up the street. And those were the front steps that she had fallen down just last year when she was nine, skinning both her knees so that they were scabbed for weeks afterward, resulting in her classmates labeling her a klutz. 

Rey walked up to the door in a daze, ignoring the yellow tape and the police officers bustling around, deaf to the murmurs of  _not a pretty picture_  and  _both dead as doorknobs_ and  _what a waste_. Strangely, none of them stopped her as she entered the house, too busy to pay attention to the little girl in pajamas and bare feet. She crept up to the entryway, hugging the wall, unconscious of the shattered glass cutting into her soles and stopped before the living room. 

All the furniture was smashed, blown to the periphery of the room. In the middle of the carpet were two blue tarps covering lumpy, indistinct forms. A woman was walking around with a camera, taking pictures from different angles, and the sudden flash blinded Rey for a moment. She blinked until the spots in her vision cleared, and she saw a man with graying hair and kind blue eyes crouching down to lift up the corner of one tarp. Another man came over and spoke to him.

“Did you know them, Luke?”

“I live a block over, so I’d chatted with them a few times. Bought lemonade at their kid’s stand last summer. I think my nephew Ben might be friends with their girl.”

“I’m sorry,” the other man said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

The first man sighed. “Yeah, me too.”

“Hey, Skywalker! I have something over here I want you to look at.”

Both men turned and left the room, heading towards the kitchen. Rey stepped forward slowly, then knelt at the edge of the tarp. She lifted it up carefully, peeling it over to reveal what lay underneath.

Nora Allen lay still, her eyes staring at some point beyond Rey’s shoulder. Her mouth was slightly parted, although when Rey bent closer, there was no sound or feel of her breath.

“Mom?” Rey shuffled closer on her knees, confused by the dampness soaking into her pajama pants. When she looked down, she saw the dark stain that she didn’t remember being on the carpet before. She touched her mother’s cheek. It was cold. 

“ _Mom!”_  This time she screamed it, grabbing at Nora’s shoulders, but she didn’t respond. Rey kept screaming, calling for her mom to answer her, to move, to say something, to  _breathe_ , but there was nothing. Hands grasped her shoulders, pulling her away, and Rey thrashed, trying to get back to her mother, to find out what was wrong, to know what was under the other tarp, even though some part of her already knew. The police officers were shouting too, now, and Rey screamed louder to be heard.

“Please, I want my mom!” she cried, twisting and clawing at the arms that held her tight.

“Rey! Hey, Rey! I need you to calm down. It’s me, Luke.”

She didn’t stop squirming, but slowed enough to listen to the man’s kind voice

“I don’t know if you remember me, but I know your parents, ok? You’re going to be ok.”

Rey went limp. “I want my mom,” she sniffled.

“Come on, kid. Let’s go outside. You’re going to be ok.”

Rey didn’t resist when the arms around her loosened and Luke took her hand, leading her back out the front door. He took her to the ambulance, where the EMT gave her a blanket and asked her some questions that she didn’t hear. Luke sat down next to her on the bumper of the ambulance, and she gripped his hand tighter, refusing to let go.

“Hey, kid,” he said, his voice gruff. “You’re gonna be ok.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on [tumblr](https://a-nerd-obsessed.tumblr.com/)

**_16 years later..._ **

Rey Allen sat on a stool in her lab, contemplating the pile of case files on her desk. It was quite a significant heap, towering over her head. Boxes of evidence from various crime scenes were stacked on shelves throughout her spacious lab between cabinets of chemicals and bookcases of reference texts. Her eyes switched to the clock.  _3:58_. Two minutes wasn’t nearly enough time to start writing the next report. Really, she’d only be able to open the document on her computer and write her name before she’d be off.

Not that she wasn’t a hard worker or didn't love her job as a CSI, but this was her first early day off since she’d been hired almost a year ago. Besides, it wasn’t her fault that she was the only CSI for the precinct. It was quite ridiculous, frankly, and the department often had to contract out to get all the evidence processed and the samples analyzed. Captain Kanata kept promising that she’d hire someone else even as she assured Rey that she was doing her job just fine.

“Hey.”

Rey jumped, her spasm nearly knocking over the stack of files she’d been avoiding, but Ben Solo caught them before paper flew everywhere, straightening it on top of her desk.

“Ben!” she squeaked. “Make some noise next time! You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

“Sorry,” he shrugged. “You just seemed mesmerized by these folders. I didn’t want to startle you.”

“And look how well that turned out.”

“Don’t blame me for your lack of awareness.”

“Oh, shut up. You’re early.”

Ben frowned at his watch. “It’s 4 o’ clock.”

“It is?” Rey leapt to her feet. “I’m free!”  

“You ready to go? The game starts in an hour.”

“Almost, just gotta get my jersey on and then we can go.” Rey dived into the backpack she had tossed on the floor when she’d arrived that morning and pulled out the bright crimson shirt emblazoned with the number of the Cloud City Speedsters’ goalkeeper, Snap Wexley. “Just give me a minute.”

Rey dashed out of the lab to the nearest women’s restroom (which was down the stairs and through a long hallway, not that she’d complained about it or anything). She slammed through the door, ripping off her work-appropriate button up shirt and slipped the jersey stamped with the Speedsters’ logo over her head. Rey quickly did her hair up in her trademark three bun style and smiled at her reflection, the change from CSI-Rey to hardcore-soccer-fan-Rey complete.

She found Ben back in the lab, looking out the bank of windows overlooking the city. “I’ve got to say, Rey, your view beats mine by miles.”

Rey joined him and looked down on the street below. “It is pretty great, but I don’t have a lot of down time to admire it.”

“I’d imagine not,” Ben said, turning to raise an eyebrow at the piles of unfinished work scattered around the lab.

“Stop it,” Rey growled. “I’m off the clock, so I’m not allowed to think about work.”

“Ok, let’s go then.”

Together, they left the lab. Walking down through the precinct, they ran into Luke, who was just coming out into the lobby. The detective looked tired, the gray in his hair and beard more evident each day, but he brightened when he caught sight of them.

“Rey! I didn't know you were off so early.”

“I got Captain Kanata to sign off on a half day so I could go to the game with Ben.”

“I see,” Luke said, noting the bright red jersey she was wearing. He turned to acknowledge his nephew. “Ben.” 

“Luke.”

Rey rolled her eyes. “Well, we’ve got to get going. I want to see the team warm up before the game.”

“Of course,” Luke said, giving her a small smile. “Don’t get home too late. And eat lots of nachos for me.” 

“Obviously,” Rey said with a grin. “See you later.”

They made their way out on the street. It was early September, so the air was still warm enough that Rey was fine just wearing the jersey and her skinny jeans. Ben was wearing all black per usual, which Rey begrudgingly allowed since it didn’t clash with the team’s colors. She had long since given up trying to force team spirit on him. Besides, she knew he had come straight from his job as a reporter at the Cloud City Citizen, so she couldn’t criticize his professional dress.

“Well,” Rey said. “That was awkward.”

Ben didn’t respond, but she noticed his jaw tense.

“Oh, come on. The two of you are such drama queens. Why can’t you just talk like normal people?”

“Rey,” Ben said in a warning tone.

“Ok, ok, fine. Have it your way,” she huffed.

After a moment of silence, Ben said, “You still let him boss you around?”

“He’s just concerned because he cares about me. He cares about you too.”

“Sure.”

“Hey, you wanted to drop it, so drop it.” 

“Fine.”

Rey sighed.

Thankfully, the stadium was only a few blocks over from the precinct, so it only took them only about fifteen minutes to arrive at the gate. Rey pulled their passes out of her pocket and passed them off to the ticket taker to have them scanned. 

Inside, Rey practically pranced over to the concession stand. Ben trailed behind her with his hands shoved in his pockets, looking out of place in the sea of red and orange fans. 

“What do you want?” Rey asked, staring up at the overpriced junk food advertised on the menu board, inhaling the scent of fried, salty deliciousness.

“Something that isn’t greasy or fake.”

“Hmm... so, air?”

“Ha, ha.”

“Come on, this is an opportunity to indulge. Besides, your metabolism is like a hundred times what mine is. I know you work out. If I can eat it, so can you.”

Ben just grumbled, and Rey took that as a suggestion that they should buy the nachos and a giant pretzel, as well as two supersized sodas. After Rey had handed over payment, they made their way up to their seats, which were surprisingly decent; they were somewhat far back in the stands but close to the midfield line.

“There he is!” Rey slapped Ben’s arm, almost causing him to drop the pretzel balanced precariously on top of the nachos. “It’s Snap!”

Ben looked over to see Snap Wexley, Rey’s favorite player, in the goal, casually blocking shots that his teammates lobbed at him. Rey was practically giddy; her love for the Speedsters’ goalkeeper was only matched by her love for Peter Parker.

Not that she would date either of them, she’d explained to Ben before. Rey just appreciated them for their respective skills.

Eventually, they situated themselves in their seats and set up the snacks for easy access, although it didn’t matter once the game started. Rey spent most of the time on her feet, screaming encouragement and advice along with several other more vocal fans that went unheeded by the players and referees on the field. After a particularly bad call, Rey flopped down on her seat in disgust, grabbing a handful of nacho chips.

“What?” she demanded, noticing Ben’s smirk.

“You’re a little feisty today.”

“Did you see the same thing I just saw? Such an obvious foul! I swear the ref is blind!”

Ben remembered a teenage Rey on the Cloud City North girls’ soccer team arguing with the referee until he was forced to give her a yellow card. Suddenly Ben was grateful that here there was security to keep her from storming the field in defense of her team. Still, he couldn’t resist poking the bear. 

“He’s not really hurt, though. I mean, with all that rolling on the ground, he’s obviously in great shape.”

Rey turned to him, eyes wide with disbelief. “Whose side are you on?”

Suddenly the noise of the crowd rose to a roar. Rey jumped back to her feet, and Ben followed, peering down to the goal. Snap was standing in front of the net, waiting as the orange-clad striker for the Death Gang drove down the field, flanked by two of his teammates. Rey was screaming again, hopping up and down and waving her arms so that Ben had to stand back to avoid being struck. The ball curved through the air, spinning towards the goal. Beside him, Ben was sure Rey was about to achieve lift-off.

Snap lunged towards the upper corner of the goal, snatching the ball in midair and curling his body around it as he hit the ground.

And was promptly trampled by an orange shirt. Rey gasped as medics ran out on the field, then immediately began to scream invective at the unfortunate player who had plowed into Wexley and was now being shoved and pulled by members of both teams as the referees tried to break it up.

“Hey, fun size! Why don’t you just sit down and shut up already?”

Ben looked up the stands to see a large pasty man wearing a jersey that definitely didn’t belong to either team glaring down at Rey. It took her a moment to realize the man was shouting at her, but when she did, all her wrath was redirected towards him.

“I could say the same to you!” she fumed.

“Pipe down, little lady. Some of us actually want to enjoy ourselves and no one wants to listen to you screeching the whole game.”

Rey sputtered.

“Besides, he’s not dead, so just calm yourself.”

Rey snatched the neglected nachos from Ben’s hand and hurled them towards the man. Ben watched the tray of chips and cheese sauce fly over three rows to splatter over the man’s shirt as if in slow motion.

Ten minutes later, Rey and Ben stood on the sidewalk outside the stadium.

“You have a good throwing arm,” Ben commented.

“Shut up,” Rey snapped, her grin giving her away.

“So,” Ben said. “What should we do with the rest of your day off?”

“What time is it?” Rey snatched Ben’s wrist to look at his watch, then gasped. “Only 6:00! I almost forgot! We could watch the particle accelerator turn on! I thought I was going to have to miss it for the game.”

“The what?” 

“Don’t play dumb. S.T.A.R Labs particle accelerator! Only the coolest scientific advancement since forever!” 

“Not my story,” Ben said with a shrug.

“Oh, please. Just because you’re not writing an article about it for the paper doesn’t mean you’re ignorant.” She started back towards the precinct. “Come on, there’s a huge screen in the lab we can watch it on!”

Ben took two long strides to catch up with Rey. He’d expected to be at the game right now anyway, so he acknowledged to himself with a sigh that he didn’t have anything better to do than watch some guy with PhD push a button.

“Show a little more enthusiasm,” Rey said, walking sideways to face him.  She held up her fingers, pinching them together so that they almost touched. “This is everything the human race has learned, like ever.”

“Does that include twerking?”

“And this –” Rey threw her arms out wide. “This is everything we can learn from the particle accelerator.”

“Sounds significantly more important and more boring than a soccer game.”

Back in her lab, Ben settled in on an uncomfortable desk chair while Rey fiddled with the screen, streaming the ceremony at S.T.A.R. Labs from her computer. Once she’d gotten everything configured, Rey sat down on a stool, nibbling on the cold pretzel that Ben had managed to keep during all the excitement at the stadium.

“There’s Dr. Rax!” Rey said, eyes glued to the screen, pointing eagerly to the thin dark-haired man with glasses who gripped the lectern, standing in front of a crowd of reporters and flanked by a line of scientists in lab coats. “He’s the brains behind the particle accelerator.”

“Yup.”

“You don’t get to act smart now,” Rey huffed, throwing a chunk of stale pretzel at him. Ben dodged before settling back in silence. Together they watched while Dr. Rax thanked everyone who had contributed, the generous donors and the brilliant designers.

“So many hands have helped build this project from the ground up, and I am so grateful. There were many times over the years that I wondered what it would feel like to finally make it to this moment. I feel as though I have waited for centuries.” Dr. Rax looked straight into the camera and Rey shivered. “And now for the big moment.”

One of the scientists behind him, an Asian woman with a friendly face, handed Dr. Rax a tablet. He turned back to the crowd and said, “Here goes nothing!”

The crowd of reporters tittered until Dr. Rax held up a hand. Then, slowly, he reached down and tapped a command into the tablet. When he looked up, the room burst into applause. Several of the scientists looked relieved.

“Thank you, everyone,” Dr. Rax said over the noise, turning away with a nod.

“Well,” Ben drawled. “That was anticlimactic.”

Rey ignored him, getting up and going to the bank of windows overlooking the city. It was dark out now, cloudy too, but she looked towards the direction of S.T.A.R. Labs anyway. “It’s amazing.”

“And you’re a nerd.” Ben stood up, muting the livestream on the screen. “I’m going to head out. Do you need me to take you home?”

“I’ll call an Uber,” Rey said.

“Alright, text me when you get there.”

“Geez, Ben.” She came over and squeezed him in a hug. “Thanks for distracting me,” she whispered.

“Of course,” he answered, wrapping his arms around her briefly before stepping back, gripping her shoulders. “You sure you’ll be alright?”

“I’m sure.”

He examined her face, squeezing her shoulders before letting go. “Ok. Call me if you need me.”

“’Night, Ben.”

“Good night.”

Rey watched him leave, waiting until his footsteps faded away before she pulled up the projector screen hiding the crime board she had painstakingly assembled over several months. Graphic images demanded her attention from crime scene photos and angry headlines screamed out at her from newspaper clippings.

_RESPECTED DOCTOR KILLS WIFE AND SELF_

_HOMICIDE_ _-SUICIDE_ _IN SUBURB OF CLOUD CITY_

_SUICIDAL PARENTS SURVIVED BY DAUGHTER_

All the articles were dated exactly sixteen years ago tomorrow. Rey dragged over the uncomfortable desk chair and sat down, staring at the board, her eyes unfocused. After a minute, quiet tears began to slide down her cheeks. 

“I promise,” she whispered. “I promise I’ll find him and make him pay.” 

Thunder rumbled, shaking the panes of glass in the windows and reminding Rey that she had left the skylight open. Yes, her lab had a skylight too, and she loved it. Except when it rained.

Rey stood up, going over towards the chain-and-pulley system that controlled the skylight when the screen still showing the coverage from S.T.A.R. Labs caught her eye. She went over and unmuted it.

“We are now being told to evacuate the area,” a reporter said, holding an umbrella over her head as sirens blared and lights flashed from the S.T.A.R. Labs building behind her. “We’re not sure what is happening inside the building but a spokesperson confirmed they are attempting to turn the particle accelerator offline. The – “

The screen went black, followed by the lights. Rey jumped, startled. She looked outside, but the rest of the city was dark too. Except for S.T.A.R. Labs.

A beam of yellow energy shot into the clouds, casting an eerie glow over the high rises in downtown. Rey watched in shock as the beam thickened, growing stronger by the second.  _That can’t be right._

The rain began to pour in earnest, smashing against the glass, jerking Rey’s attention away from the scene outside her window. She ran to the chain, and began to tug, willing the skylight to close faster. Captain Kanata would  _not_ be happy if the lab flooded again, and Rey really didn’t want to track down a mop and bucket.

“No, no, no,” Rey muttered, feeling like a bell ringer in an old church as she jumped up and down in an attempt to move the stubborn mechanism. She glanced back out the windows and saw that the beam pouring from S.T.A.R. Labs was more intense than ever. Suddenly, a wave of energy broke free, rising in a dome that plowed through the city, passing over buildings and streets, coming straight towards her. Rey pulled harder. 

A prickling sensation ran over her body and the hairs on her arms stood on end.  _Oh no._  She looked up into the rain pouring through the skylight and was blinded as the lightning struck.

The force of the strike shattered the glass skylight and scorched through Rey's body, throwing her back against one of the shelves holding jars and bottles of solutions. The shelving unit tipped over, spilling chemicals across the floor as Rey lolled unconscious, unaware of the rain and chaos storming through the city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took forever to get to the exciting stuff, but Rey really wanted to throw nachos at that guy (any guesses as to his identity?)
> 
> Leave a kudos or comment to let me know what you think! Also check out this [one shot](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16523258/chapters/38704226) I wrote in this universe about Rey during her college years.
> 
> Until next time... ;)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: this is still just word vomit! Typos will be fixed as they come to my attention
> 
> Find me on [tumblr](https://a-nerd-obsessed.tumblr.com/)

“Why are you playing Bruno Mars?” 

“Because she likes it.” 

“How do you know she likes it?” 

“Uh, I checked her Instagram account. She went to his concert last year. Totally jealous.” 

“You’re jealous of a girl in a coma. That’s a new low for you, Finn.” 

“Switch off.” 

Oddly, the first thing that came to her was the smell of antiseptic and... churros? Rey opened her eyes slowly, blinking at the fluorescent lights overhead. She tried to turn her face away and groaned. 

“Whoa, she’s awake!” 

Two strange faces blocked out the light, peering down at her. Rey jerked up, nearly colliding foreheads with the dark-skinned man and Asian woman who were hovering over her. 

“Hey, take it easy, Rey.” 

“Who are you? How do you know my name?” Rey demanded, looking around as the pair took a few steps back. “Where am I?” 

“You’re at S.T.A.R Labs,” the woman said. “I’m Rose, and this is Finn.” 

“And how do you know my name?” Rey swung her legs off the hospital bed she was on, then gripped her head as a sudden pain pierced her skull. “What happened? How did I get here?” 

Finn and Rose shared a glance. “Well,” Rose started, “you were struck by lightning.” 

“I - what?” 

“Nine months ago, you were in your lab at the CCPD. We think you were trying to close the skylight when lightning struck and you were put into a coma.” 

“You shouldn’t hold metal chains on top of tall buildings in a thunderstorm,” Finn added helpfully. Rose slapped his arm. “Ow!” 

“When they took you to the hospital, they couldn’t find out why you wouldn’t come out of the coma. Your heart stopped several times,” Rose continued. “So we offered to bring you here to run some tests under closer observation.” 

“Nine months? But I feel fine,” Rey said. She stretched her arms across her chest. “I feel great, actually.” 

Finn stepped forward, taking her upper arm and squeezing. “It’s odd. Even though you should have experienced a lot of muscle wasting from being in a coma for so long, your body seems to be in some sort of state of regeneration.” 

Rey jerked away, not thrilled with having a stranger touching her, especially since she noticed she was only wearing a thin hospital gown over loose sweatpants.  

“Why did I wake up?” 

Rose turned to Finn. “I don’t know,” Finn said with a frown. “Actually, I’d like to run some more tests now that you’re awake. Would you mind peeing in this cup?” 

“Finn!” Rose shoved him away. “Give the girl some space! Go look at some medical charts or something. And shut that music off.” 

Finn looked slightly dejected as he slunk away, passing out the doorway of the small room filled with medical equipment and taking the sound of  _Uptown Funk_  with him. 

“Sorry about that. Finn can be a bit oblivious when he gets excited. He’s got a doctorate in biochemistry and medicine, so you’re like the most exciting thing that’s happened to him in forever,” Rose apologized.  

“I’d like to put on some real clothes,” Rey said, pulling nodes trailing wire off of her chest. Rose didn’t protest. “Is there anything I could wear?” 

“We actually have some of your clothes here,” Rose said, moving to a stainless-steel cabinet against the wall. “Ben brought it over when we first moved you here.” 

“Ben?” 

Rose handed her a stack of clothes including underthings. Rey blushed at the thought of Ben going to her room at Luke’s and digging through her closet to bring them to the hospital and then here. “Yes, Ben. Tall, dark, and handsome type?” 

Finn stuck his head back in. “ _Very_  handsome. He visited  _all_ the time.”  

“Go!” Rose ordered and pointed, taking a threatening step towards him so that he disappeared again. 

“Ben’s my best friend,” Rey explained. 

Rose smiled. “He does seem like a good friend.”  

Rey slipped off the bed slowly, testing her legs. When she didn’t fall over, she looked around for a bathroom door. 

“Here, sorry, I’ll just step out,” Rose said, going to the door. “You gonna be ok?” 

Rey nodded and Rose closed the door behind her. Quickly, Rey stripped off the shapeless paper gown and sweatpants. She tugged on her own leggings and was starting to pull on the oversized sweater when she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror.  

“What the hell?” 

Rose burst into the room, concern on her face, but Rey was so distracted that she wasn’t even embarrassed that she was only wearing a sports bra and leggings. “Are you ok?” 

“Um,” Rey said, still staring in the mirror. “Lightning gave me... abs?” 

Both of them paused to admire Rey’s toned stomach for a second. Rey had always been lean thanks to genetics and a semi-regular workout schedule, but the definition was definitely something new. 

“Must be that regeneration thing Finn mentioned,” Rose mused. 

“What did I say?” Finn reappeared in the doorway.  

“FINN!” both girls shrieked. Rey hastily tugged her sweater over her head as Finn clapped a hand over his eyes. 

“Sorry! Sorry,” he said. “Can I look now?” 

“Yes,” Rey said. 

“How are you feeling?” Finn said. “I should really run those tests now.” 

“Like I said, I feel great,” Rey said, tying up her Converse. “I’d actually really like to go home now. Do you have my phone and ID and things around here somewhere?” 

“But,” Finn sputtered, “tests!” 

Rose handed Rey her wallet and phone. Finn flapped his hands in desperation. 

“Thanks.” Rey tried to turn the phone on, but it was dead. Well, she supposed she couldn’t expect them to have her phone charged just in case she happened to wake up that day. 

“Rey,” Finn pleaded. “We don’t know what happened to you. You need to stay here while we make sure that you’re really ok.” 

“I told you, I’m fine,” Rey said, starting for the door. “And sorry, you seem nice, but I don’t know you. I’d like to go home.” She entered a bigger room that was centered around a bank of computers. Other doorways led to more rooms filled with expensive scientific equipment that Rey would have killed to have in her lab at the precinct, but right now she just wanted to leave. She started towards the hallway behind the computers, hoping to find an exit. 

“I’m a doctor,” Finn declared, as if that was the final word. Rey sighed and turned around, prepared to reiterate that  _she was leaving, right now_. 

“I’m a doctor, Finn, of mechanical engineering. That means nothing,” Rose pointed out. 

“I mean I’m a medical doctor!” 

“I’m sorry, but I’m going. Thanks for your help,” Rey said, turning away from the pair still bickering over their degrees and titles. 

“Rey Allen.” 

Rey was stopped by a thin man with dark hair in a wheelchair who had appeared in the hallway. 

“Dr. Gallius Rax,” she breathed. 

“Yes,” the man said, moving the joystick on his chair so that it rolled closer. “I’m so glad to finally meet you, Rey.” 

“So this really is S.T.A.R. Labs?” Rey asked, noticing for the first time the S.T.A.R. Labs logo etched onto several pieces of equipment around the room.  

Rose huffed. “I wasn't lying.” 

“Yes, this is S.T.A.R. Labs. You’ve been our guest for quite some time, but it’s good that you’ve finally woken up,” Dr. Rax said. 

“Yeah, wow, this is amazing,” Rey said, a little awestruck at meeting one of her scientific idols. “But I really should go. I’ve got people worried about me.” 

“I’m afraid I really must insist that you stay. Like Finn said, we need to make sure everything is in order before we let you go.” 

“Please?” Finn begged. “Tests?” 

“Thank you for everything, but I’m going to pass,” Rey said, skirting around the wheelchair and taking her leave. 

Behind her, she heard Finn start, “But - “ 

“It’s a free country, Finn. She can leave if she wants,” Rose stated. 

Rey snorted in agreement, already trying to remember the bus schedules for this part of the city. 

“Don’t worry,” she thought she heard Dr. Rax say. “She’ll be back.” 

Rey wondered why he was so sure. 

~---~ 

On the street, Rey decided to forgo the bus, especially once she realized the city transport pass in her wallet had expired a few months ago. 

She’d gotten a strange look when she’d accosted the first person she saw and asked what the date was. Sure enough, the stereotypical hipster chick Rey questioned told her that it was early June. But seriously, who wears a scarf in the summer? 

It seemed to be early morning since the air was warm but not stifling, and the sun was not quite above the buildings of downtown quite yet. Rey started to get her bearings as she walked through the park along the river that bisected the city. There were a few joggers and dogwalkers roaming the paths, but overall it was a quiet, peaceful sort of day. Rey saw squirrels darting between trees and robins hopping through the grass. Everything seemed so  _normal_. If she hadn’t woken up on a hospital bed in a research facility, she would have believed it to be just another day in Cloud City. 

When she reached the edge of the park, she realized she was only a block away from the headquarters for the Cloud City Citizen where Ben worked. Without conscious decision she made her way to the office. Only once she was standing outside did she think that Ben might not even be there today – it could be a weekend or he could be out on a story – but she pushed through the front door anyway.  

Rey waved at the receptionist, Mitaka, who was covering the front desk as she walked past. He seemed slightly stunned to see her as he gave a weak wave back, but Rey remembered him as being awkward at the best of times when she'd met him before.  

She hesitated before entering the sea of desks and conference rooms covering the ground floor the Cloud City Citizen’s main office. Rey had visited Ben at work a few times before, but in nine months he may have moved desks or even jobs for all she knew. 

But no, there he was, his large frame hunched over his computer screen with his trademark terrible posture, his long dark hair falling into his face. Somehow, he must have known that she was there because he looked up and saw her across the room. Rey grinned as he stood up and walked over to her, his brow wrinkled in disbelief. 

“Rey?” 

“Hey, Ben.” 

He reached her and enveloped her in a crushing hug.  

After a minute, she tapped his arm. “Ben? I need to breathe.” 

Quickly, he pulled back, although he kept his hands on her shoulders. “Sorry, it’s just – why are you here?” 

“To see you, obviously.” 

“But you were in a coma. Why didn’t S.T.A.R. Labs call me?” 

“I just woke up. My phone was dead otherwise I would have called right away.” 

“But you shouldn’t be walking around in the city by yourself. Rey, you were in a coma for  _nine months_.” 

“I know. That’s what they told me, but I feel fine. Really, I feel great.”  

“Are you sure? Did they check you out?” He looked her up and down as if to check for any lingering signs of the comatose patient he’d visited almost every day for the past nine months. 

“They wanted to run some tests, but I wanted to get out of there.” 

“But are you  _sure –”_  

 _“_ Ben,” she laughed. “I’m fine. Promise.” 

He just frowned. 

“Actually, could I borrow your phone? I need to call Luke and tell him I’m alright.” 

Grudgingly, he handed it over to her. He hadn’t changed the passcode so she was still able to unlock it. She found an impersonal entry in his contacts named  _Luke Skywalker_ _(Detective)_ and pressed the call button. It rang a few times before Luke picked up.  

“Ben? Is everything ok?” 

“Hey, Luke. It’s me.” 

“Rey? What – how –” 

“I woke up an hour ago. I’m with Ben right now.” The line was silent. “Luke?” 

“Yes, I’m still here. I’m just – I was so worried for you, kid.” 

It was hard to tell over the phone, but Rey thought he sounded a little choked up. “I'm fine, Luke. I feel great. I’m ok.”  

“I’m so happy to hear that. Just – have Ben take you home, ok? I’ll be there as soon as I can get off my shift.” 

“Sure, ok, see you soon.” 

“Love you, kid.” 

“Love you, too.” Rey handed the phone back to Ben. He raised a questioning eyebrow. “He wants you to take me home.” 

“That’s probably a good idea,” Ben said. “Just let me get my things and let Mitaka know I’m gone for the day.” 

“Actually, could we go to Jitters? Apparently, I haven't had caffeine in nine months, so I kind of need a fix.”  

Ben fixed her with a disapproving look. "Should recently comatose people be drinking caffeine?” 

“Please?” She gave him her best puppy eyes, sticking out her lower lip in a pout for good measure. “It’s only fifteen minutes away.” 

His shoulders slumped slightly in defeat. “Fine. Just wait here.” 

She did a fist pump until Ben glared at her and then she attempted to look contrite, even though she could tell he didn’t buy it. 

Soon they were on the street headed to Jitters. Rey felt content as she walked next to Ben, even when she caught him watching her with concern. Inside the coffee shop, the morning rush had already gone through a few hours before so it was fairly slow.  

“What do you want?” Ben asked when they reached the counter. 

“Iced mocha with almondmilk,” Rey answered.  

“Double espresso for me,” Ben said. The barista quickly rang in their order and took Ben’s card. Rey didn’t bother arguing over who was going to pay. She wasn’t even sure if her cards worked at this point. Rey thought about all the things that could have fallen apart while she was in that coma and grimaced at the thought of sorting everything out. 

“What’s wrong?” Ben asked when she groaned. “Are you feeling ok?” 

“Oh, no, it’s not that,” she said as they moved to the corner table in the back of the seating area. “It’s just thinking about everything that happened or didn’t happen while I was, you know, unconscious.”  

“Don’t worry about it,” Ben stated. “Luke and I took care of it.” 

Rey scoffed. “You two, working together? I would’ve got struck by lightning sooner if I had known that’s what it would take to get you to cooperate.” 

“Don’t joke about that,” Ben snapped, making her jump with his intense scowl. “You don’t know what it was like, Rey, when they found you and I got the call – and then in the hospital, when your heart kept stopping –” His voice broke and Rey stared down at the tabletop, her fingers twisting together in her lap. “We thought so many times that we were going to lose you, Rey.” 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.  

Ben sat back, taking a deep breath. “It’s not your fault. I’m just glad you’re back.” 

She smiled at him. “Me too.” Over his shoulder, she saw the barista making her way over carrying two drinks. “I think those are ours,” she said, nodding her head. Ben turned, just in time to see a CCU student swing his backpack over his shoulder, slamming the barista’s arm with what was probably a metric ton of textbooks.  

As Rey watched, the world suddenly slowed down as the drinks tumbled out of the girl’s hand, falling to the tile flooring at half speed. Rey felt a tingle race through her, causing her to gasp. She stared as the mug of espresso shattered in a wave across the floor and the plastic cup with her mocha bounced before spilling its contents in slow motion. She gasped, looking to Ben, but he too seemed to be frozen in time. 

Then, just as suddenly, everything was back to normal speed.  

Rey flinched at the abrupt return of time. The barista and student began an exchange of apologizing and claiming blame as they tried to clean up the mess on the floor. Normally, that would’ve made Rey laugh, but now she was just staring with wide eyes. 

“Well,” Ben said, turning back to her, “I think we’ll have to wait a little longer for our drinks.” He noticed her stunned expression. “Rey, you alright?” 

She shook her head. “Yes, I’m fine. Could we actually get our drinks to go? They have to remake them anyway. I think I’d like to go home now.”  

“Sure,” Ben said, concern in his eyes. He spoke to the barista when she came up to apologize and she returned a few minutes later with their drinks in a tray. They each took their drinks, forgoing the tray, and left Jitters for the nearest bus stop. 

They rode the bus in silence, the excitement of the day finally catching up to Rey. The bus took them into a residential neighborhood on the north side of the city, disembarking at the parking lot where commuters left their cars during the day while they took public transportation into downtown. Luke’s place where Rey still lived was actually just a few blocks from the bus stop, so they walked down shady tree-lined streets until they turned the corner of Luke’s street. At the front door, Rey fished out the key and unlocked it, pushing the door open so they could walk inside.  

“It’s weird,” she said, standing in the entryway. Ben closed the door before coming to stand at her side. “It feels like just yesterday that I got up and went to work, but at the same time a part of me know that it was so much longer. It actually kind of hurts to think about.” 

Ben took the empty Jitters coffee cup from her hand. “Go sit down in the living room. I’ll find something for us to eat.” 

Rey obeyed as he disappeared into the kitchen. The well-used couch sagged underneath her as she sat down, the familiarity making her sigh in relief. When Ben came back, he found her with her head resting on the back of the couch, her eyes closed. 

“Here you go,” he said. 

“A banana?” 

He sat down next to her, making the couch cushions dip towards him. “And toast. I didn’t know if you should really be eating solid food or if you’d have much of an appetite yet.” 

Rey’s stomach growled, answering his question. “Honestly,” she said, “I feel like I could eat a whole taco truck.”  

“That’s surprisingly specific.” 

“What else was in the kitchen?” 

“Luke doesn’t really have much in his kitchen unless he has a secret stash somewhere that I can’t find.” 

Rey snatched up his phone from the coffee table where he had set it. “Delivery?” 

~---~ 

When Luke arrived home late that afternoon, he found Ben and Rey in the dining room surround by the remains of a taco feast. Ben was sitting back in his chair, watching as Rey finished the last of the guacamole and chips.  

When she saw Luke, Rey jumped up from her seat and attacked Luke with a hug. Wordlessly, he returned it, holding her tight. After a minute she pulled back. 

“Hey,” she said. “You’re home early.” 

Luke huffed a laugh. “When I told Captain Kanata, she insisted I go home immediately. She may have threatened to fire me if I didn’t.”  

Rey grinned. “She would too.”  

“I don’t doubt it.” Luke took a step back, looking her over. “You look good, Rey. I can’t believe you woke up. I – we were so worried,” he said, glancing at Ben. 

“I’m sorry about that,” Rey said. 

“Not your fault, kid. Just dumb luck.” 

Silence fell in the room, all them unsure what do to now. Finally, Luke broke the tension, clapping his hands together. “So! Any food left for me.” 

“Rey ate it all,” Ben said dryly. 

“Sorry,” Rey blushed. 

Luke waved her off. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll scrounge up something.” 

“I’m planning to go grocery shopping in the morning,” Rey called after him as he disappeared into the kitchen. 

“I don’t think so,” Luke said. “You need to take it slow for a few days.” 

“Agreed,” Ben spoke up. 

Rey glared at them. “Like I’ve said only about a hundred times, I feel  _fine_ _._  I’d rather start figuring out my life than sit on the couch. Apparently, I’ve been asleep for nine months, and I think it’s time I do something.” 

Both men looked like they were ready to argue, but Rey crossed her arms and set her shoulders back, daring them to try. Ben and Luke exchanged a look. 

“Fine,” Ben said. “But you’re going to let us help.” 

Rey pondered that for a moment before acquiescing. “Ok, just don’t treat me like an invalid. You both have that look like you think I’m going to shatter into a million pieces if I breathe wrong, and I’m sorry you had to worry about me for nine months, but I’m really ok now.” 

Luke nodded slowly. “Sounds good.” He ducked back into the kitchen and returned a few seconds later with a chocolate chip granola bar. “And you might be right about the grocery shopping. It’s kind of sparse in there.” 

“Actually,” Rey said, “I was wondering if I could also go in to the precinct with you tomorrow?” She paused for a moment. “Wait, do I even still have a job?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear I'm trying to get to the fun stuff (like SUPERSPEED)! It's just my logical brain wants to fill in all the holes of the story, so sorry if it's taking forever. 
> 
> But please let me know what you think! Kudos, comments, and subscriptions make my day!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on [tumblr](https://a-nerd-obsessed.tumblr.com)

Rey’s return to CCPD was an overwhelming experience. Everyone was in some degree of shock at her return, and a few of their jaws actually dropped before they caught themselves. It hit Rey, then, that to everyone else, she had been as good as dead for the past nine months. She felt dazed as it seemed like every detective and officer on duty came up and welcomed her back. 

Captain Kanata, however, went straight to business, nearly plowing over the custodian who was scrubbing the floor with a mop. “Good to see you back, Rey,” the short, dark-skinned woman stated. “Things have been backed up without you here.”

Rey blanched, imagining the pile-up that would result from nine months of no one working in the CSI lab. “So... you didn’t replace me?”

“Hell, no, girl. We did borrow the CSIs from the other precincts to cover the workload, but the job’s still yours. Besides, do you know how long it took me to find a competent body to fill that position, and a female to boot?” 

Rey couldn’t help but smile at the woman’s directness. She would give almost anything to be as confident, successful, and beautiful as Maz Kanata. The woman hardly seemed mortal. 

Captain Kanata just sighed before turning to Luke.

“As I was saying, detective, why the hell did you let her come in today? She was in a coma just yesterday as far as I knew, unless you’ve not been keeping me updated.”

Luke, standing close behind Rey, shuffled his feet. Kanata was one of the few people Rey had seen intimidate him.

“Yes, she was, but there was no way I could stop her from coming,” he admitted.

Captain Kanata turned sparkling eyes back on Rey. “Atta girl.”

Rey beamed.

“Now, I don’t want you to start anything today. You can go up to your lab and make sure everything’s in order. I told them not to touch anything, but you know how well everyone around here listens,” Kanata said with a resigned scowl. “And you, Skywalker, have a half day to make up for me. I’m sure Art has a few things to say to you.”

Rey stifled a grin at the thought of Luke’s diminutive partner Art cussing him out for leaving early yesterday. He was a man of few words whose first language was sarcasm and who made a habit of pretending to hold onto grudges. 

“Yeah I figured,” Luke sighed. “I’ll go check in with him. Go on up to your lab, Rey.”

“Ok,” Rey said as Luke and the captain turned away, crossing paths with a pair of cops headed out on patrol. Rey was about to head upstairs herself when she saw one of the officers slip on the wet floor that the janitor had just spread a generous amount of soapy water over. Rey was about to call out a warning when it happened again, the buzzing under her skin.

Everything slowed down to a standstill. The officer was sprawling in midair, his arms pinwheeling while his partner hadn’t even realized he was falling yet. Luke and the captain were frozen midstride and the janitor was in the middle of slapping down his mop, a wave of sudsy water suspended in the air. 

This time, Rey had the wherewithal to look around, discovering that she could move in this moment of suspended time. She took a step, then another. Nothing happened. She walked up to the officer, gently setting him upright, a feeling of disbelief bubbling up in her chest. Just when she had put him on his feet did the world begin to revert to normal speed. Startled, she stepped back from the officer, right as he gasped, his arms wobbling to steady himself.

“Whoa, Roberts, you ok?” his partner asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said, then looked up at Rey. “Thanks, Allen. I didn't even see you standing there.”

“Oh, uh, of course.”

Luke and Maz had been drawn back by the commotion. A few others in the vicinity came over to see what was going on, oblivious to the custodian behind the crowd who was surreptitiously setting out his  _Caution Wet Floor_  signs that had been neglected earlier. Rey realized she was shaking slightly, and moved back away from the small crowd.

“You alright, Rey?” Kanata asked, gripping her elbow.

“Me? Uh, yeah. I think I’m just going to go get some fresh air.”

The captain didn’t look satisfied, but Rey was starting to feel hot. Quickly, she took the stairs down the side entrance and burst through the door. She leaned against the brick wall next in an alleyway leading to the lot where the patrol cars were kept, closing her eyes as she tried to calm her heartbeat. She took a deep breath, inhaling the city smell of vehicle exhaust and the odd whiff of sewage. Not exactly a calming lavender candle, but the familiar scent still helped ground her. Or so Rey thought. 

She opened her eyes to look at her hand. It was...  _vibrating_. 

Rey gasped, grabbing at it with her other hand and pinning it to her stomach, but that did nothing to stop the feeling spreading through her body. It was that same tingling that had overtaken her when time had stopped twice, both yesterday and today. It wasn’t unpleasant, like ants crawling over her skin, it was more like the energy right before your favorite artist takes the stage at a concert.

Rey felt more alive than she’d ever felt before. She was full to the brim, and she knew that she needed to  _move._

She started to take a few steps away from the wall and in a flash she was at the end of the alley, tipping over a trash can as she skidded to a halt. A pair of pigeons exploded into the air, startled by her abrupt appearance.

_What is this?_

Rey looked down at her hands again. Both of them were vibrating fast enough that they were blurred around the edges. Rey grinned. Her hands tightened to fists and she crouched down. She took a few deep breaths, then burst forward, running faster than she knew should ever be possible. 

Rey had never been a fast runner. In high school she had played soccer, and she had been good, but she wasn’t the fastest on the team by a long shot. In fact, it was Ben who was the runner between them – always doing 10ks and half marathons despite his bookish tendencies.

But now, Rey was running, running faster by the second, her logic struggling to understand what was happening. Rey had always thought that speeding up meant everything else became blurred. Instead, everything became so much sharper, as though she had all the time in the world to take in what her senses were telling her, heightening everything: the smells from the hotdog vendor on the corner, the honking of car horns, the scowl of the harried courier in the crosswalk. Rey experienced it all more completely even as her brain processed more information as she raced through the city. She couldn’t help the giddy laughter that bubbled up as she ran.

Rey had started on the sidewalk but quickly switched to the street when she grew tired of weaving between pedestrians. She was going so fast, dodging cars and turning corners in the blink of an eye. She felt as though the energy flooding her limbs was almost too much to contain, crackling off her skin. Then she noticed that it was  _literally_  crackling off her skin, almost like streamers of yellow lightning. It startled her, throwing off her stride. Rey hadn’t had any plan or direction when she had started to explore her new euphoric ability, so it was a surprise when she skated to a stop in front of her house.

Not the house that she had lived in with Luke since he’d taken her in after everything happened, but her childhood home. And something was burning.

“Oh, shit!” Rey looked down to see that her Converse were smoldering, burnt by the friction of her sprint through Cloud City. She began to stomp, trying to put out the burning rubber. Once she had smothered the sparks, Rey straightened, surprised to find her breathing even though had just done the equivalent of a half marathon in less than five minutes. She was shaking, but that was probably more because of excitement than fatigue.

_That was most definitely not normal_. 

Rey briefly considered that she had lost her mind, that she was having side effects from being struck by lightning that made her hallucinate, or, even worse, she was actually still in a coma and only thought she was awake, like being trapped in the Matrix.

Rey looked at the house in front of her. Someone else lived there now, so she turned and walked to the next block over to Luke’s but didn’t go inside. Instead she walked beside the garage to the backyard, passing through the gate connecting Luke’s backyard to the Solos. 

The Solos were almost never home, but Ben had stayed here last night rather than returning to his apartment in the city. Right now, she needed to find him and question him, to make sure she wasn’t insane. Rey didn’t bother trying the doorknob, instead pulling out her Swiss Army multitool to pick the lock.

Three things she learned growing up next door to the Solos: one, Leia Organa always locked the doors; two, Han Solo always forgot his keys; and three, Han Solo could pick any lock, and he was a willing teacher, especially when it came to Rey.

“Ben?” she called. There was no answer.

Rey didn't find Ben on the ground floor, so she climbed the stairs to Ben’s childhood room. She was prepared to bang on the door to wake him up and tease him for being a lazy bum, but the door was ajar and his room empty when she stepped inside.

As she looked around at the remnants of Ben’s teenage angst in the form of obscure band posters and black bedding, Rey realized that he probably returned to his place after her and Luke had left for the precinct that morning. She pulled out her phone and went to her favorite contacts, her thumb hovering over an image of Ben she’d taken when she’d ambushed him at his work one afternoon over a year ago now. From her phone screen, Ben frowned with his glasses perched on the end of his nose, making her lips quirk upward. 

But she hesitated. He had already worried so much about her, and she was sure that yesterday had been more stressful for him that her ( _surprise! I’m not in a coma anymore so you_ _wanna_ _go get some java?_ )

Instead, she opened the Instagram app, tapping until she found her notifications. 

_The.Real.Finn_ _2187 started following you_.

_The.Real.Finn_ _2187 liked your post._

Rey snorted. How many  _The.Real.Finn_ s were there? She clicked the notification and it took her to a blurry picture she’d taken at the Bruno Mars concert, confirming it was the Finn from S.T.A.R. Labs. Rey followed him back, then DMed him through the app.

**_X_ ** **_Rey_ ** **_Vision_ ** **** _11:27am_

_Hey, sorry I don’t have your number. I was wondering if I could ask you some questions?_

The app informed her that it had delivered her message. Rey wandered around the room as she waited for a response, not touching anything since she remembered Ben’s furious temper when she’d mess with his things while they were in high school together. Rey wasn’t even sure if he’d slept here because the bed was made with military precision. Leave it to Ben to sleep on the couch in his parents’ house out of spite even when they weren’t home. 

A few minutes later, her phone buzzed.

**_The.Real.Finn_ ** **_2187_ ** _11:31am_

_Yes! Do you want to come to S.T.A.R._ _Labs?_

Then, a few seconds later:

_Please?_

**_XReyVision_ ** **** _11:32am_

_Sure. On my way._

_~---~_

Rey decided that she was going to take an Uber. Even though a part of her wanted to experience her dash through the city streets again, she was also scared to attempt it without knowing what was happening to her. Also, she didn’t want to completely destroy her favorite pair of Converse.

The Uber driver dropped her off in front of S.T.A.R. Labs, asking her if she was sure this was the right place when she leaned back into thank him before shutting the door. Rey assured him it was, then frowned at his retreating bumper. She discovered why he’d asked about her destination when she turned to look at it for herself, realizing she hadn’t really seen it when she escaped the previous day.

Nine months ago, Rey remembered the gigantic S.T.A.R. Labs facility as a gleaming example of modern architecture with an impressive six story edifice and curved exterior housing the pinnacle of scientific advancement and innovation, the parking lot around it full of cars and tourists angling for a good shot with their selfie sticks.

Now the parking was empty, fenced off by metal chainlink, the outside of the structure bearing evidence of damage from the night the particle accelerator exploded. Signs fastened to the fence prohibited trespassing and warned of radiation on the grounds. Rey was only put off for a few seconds though, when another message came through from Finn telling her that it was safe and to come straight inside. Rose was waiting for her at the front door.

“Hey,” she greeted. “Dr. Rax and Finn are in the cortex.”

Rey followed her back to the central room from yesterday. Finn immediately appeared from one of the adjoining rooms.

“Rey!” he exclaimed. “I’m so glad you came back. I was really worried about you.”

Rey didn’t know how to respond to the genuine relief in his voice, so she just smiled. She heard the whir of an electric motor behind her and turned to see Dr. Rax follow her and Rose into the cortex.

“Welcome back, Rey,” he said.

“Um, thanks,” she replied. 

“I don’t believe we had a chance to properly introduce ourselves yesterday. This is Dr. Rose Tico, and this is Dr. Finn Storm. My name is Gallius Rax.”

“Nice to actually meet you,” Rey said. Finn gave a tiny wave, bouncing on his heels. Rose seemed drastically less impressed. Rey frowned, wondering if she’d offended her somehow, but as far as Rey knew she’d been in a coma for the past nine months.

“What brought you back to us?” Dr. Rax continued. 

“Well,” she started, “I don’t really know? It’s just that some strange things have been happening, and I was wondering if you would have any idea what’s going on with me.”

“What sort of things, Rey? Be specific,” Dr. Rax commanded gently.

Rey decided to just say it. “I’m either crazy or I can move really fast.”

A small smile pulled on Dr. Rax’s lips and he raised his eyebrows.

“No, really,” Rey said, lifting up to show them the charred soles of her shoes. “Like,  _really_ fast. I burnt my best Converse. Is something wrong with me?” She looked up at the others, feeling slightly frantic.

“Oh, no, Rey, I wasn’t laughing at you. I think it’s entirely possible you are correct,” Dr. Rax reassured her.

“What do you mean? Like superspeed?” Finn interjected. “That’s  _awesome_.”

“What?” Rose said flatly. “Have you all been struck by lightning?”

“No, just Rey,” Dr. Rax observed. 

“I’m serious,” Rey said beseechingly. She held up her hands, which began to vibrate almost of their own accord. “See?”

“Wow, I really need to run some tests,” Finn breathed. “This is the best day of my life.”

“That just proves how badly you need to get out more,” Rose said.

“Like you ever go out,” Finn flung back blithely. Rose just rolled her eyes.

“Anyway,” Dr. Rax interrupted, “I would like for Finn to complete a physical exam and do a basic blood panel if that’s alright with you, Rey, and then maybe we can ask for a more formal demonstration.”

“Yeah, ok.”

“Finn, notify me when you’re done.”

“Yes, sir,” Finn said. 

Dr. Rax wheeled out of the room, leaving Rey with Finn and Rose. 

“So, Rey...” Finn began.

“Yes, tests, I know,” Rey said. “Lead the way, Finn.”

Finn’s expression brightened even more as he walked back through the door he had appeared from, his gait springy. Rose caught Rey’s eyes and shook her head in exasperation.

Inside, one half of the space was taken up by a glorified examination room, while the other half had all sorts of machines and diagnostic equipment Rey could vaguely catalogue from her training as a CSI.

“Please have a seat,” Finn said, patting the examination table. Rey sat with her legs dangling off the edge while Finn moved around, picking up a stethoscope and tablet. Rey noticed that Rose had followed them in, sitting up straight in a chair, rolling it closer to where Rey was.

“So,” Finn said, tapping on the tablet. “Have you been feeling sick at all since you woke up? Any nausea, vomiting, aches or pains?”

“No, not really.”

He set down the tablet, putting the stethoscope in his ears. “Um, do you mind?” Rey removed the hoodie she’d been wearing so that she was just in a tank top. Finn pressed the bell of the stethoscope to her back and listened. “Deep breaths, please.”

The room was silent while Finn listened to her heart and lungs. Rose began spinning the chair, her face in a faint scowl. Rey wondered at the silence, the only real sound the hum of the air conditioning system from the vents. If she really thought about it, it seemed kind of odd that anyone was still working here at all. 

“Everything sounds normal,” Finn announced.

“That’s good, right?” Rey asked, rubbing her bare arms reflexively. The air conditioning was excellent in S.T.A.R. Labs and normally Rey ran cold, but right then she felt fine. 

“Yup,” Finn agreed. “You’re not afraid of needles, are you?”

After a battery of tests that Finn was decidedly too excited about, Finn reviewed the results with Rey and Rose.

“You seem fine. Great, even. All your results indicate that you’re extremely healthy, like straight-out-of-the-textbook-reference-chart healthy.”

“That’s good to hear,” Dr. Rax said, rolling back into the cortex. He removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes before replacing them. “I think it’s about time we had a real demonstration of what Rey can do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm still going... barely. This Nanowrimo thing isn't easy, let me tell you.
> 
> Finn is adorkable, and Rose is so done with him. I love them. :D
> 
> Leave a comment to let me know what you think! Subscribe for updates, because they're coming fast and furious! (At least for me)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a hot second but I'm still going strong! Here's some more for you all
> 
> Find me on [tumblr](https://a-nerd-obsessed.tumblr.com)

Rey hadn’t ever thought about how rich Dr. Gallius Rax must be until he took them in a company van from S.T.A.R Labs, a multimillion-dollar research facility, to an abandoned airfield just outside of the city limits.

“You own an airport?” Rey gaped.

“Not exactly,” Dr. Rax replied. Finn looked at her and shrugged. 

Rose came up to her, holding a pair of shoes. “So, these shoes are made of material that’s extremely heat resistant. Just something that I was working on for fun when I had spare time, so it was easy enough to turn the material into shoes. That way they will hold up better than your Converse. I also have some running clothes in the van if you don’t want to ruin what you’re wearing.”

Rey looked down at her outfit. Nothing too exciting, if she was going to be honest – oversized CCU hoodie, tank top, ragged skinny jeans - but it probably wouldn’t be ideal for it to go up in flames if she really did have superspeed. She might actually die, then – of embarrassment.

When Rey came out of the back of the van and rejoined the others in the tarmac, she was clad in a tight shirt and shorts made of a fabric that was somehow both breathable and tough. It was surprisingly comfortable to move around in, but it didn’t look very flattering, sticking to her curves in a way that made her look like a scarecrow despite the tone she’d gained from the lightning strike. Rey knew Ben would laugh if he could see her now. 

“Does it fit?” Rose asked, ever focused and practical.

“Yeah. A little snug,” Rey said, stretching and twisting to test it out, rubbing the cloth between her fingers. “What is this stuff?” 

“Just another side project,” Rose responded, tapping on a tablet. Rey suspected that Rose must have a lot of side projects. 

Finn approached from the canopy that they had erected as a sort of command station, holding an odd-looking contraption. “I’m going to have you wear this harness. It measures your vitals and monitors your metabolism so that we can see what’s going on.” He helped her put it on, making sure that the straps across her chest weren’t too tight and calibrating it to her biometrics. 

“Finn, are we ready?” Dr. Rax called from the command station, intently studying one of the monitors they had set up.

“Yes, sir, just a few more checks.” He pushed a button near her shoulder and the tablet in his hand gave a small chime. “We’re ready!”

Dr. Rax rolled his chair over to them. “Alright, Rey, whenever you’re ready, you can begin. There’s no pressure, no expectations. Do whatever you’re comfortable with, and if you feel anything going wrong, stop immediately.”

She nodded, letting out a breath. “Ok.”

“Alright, then.” Dr. Rax returned to his station.

“This is gonna be awesome,” Finn gushed. Rose shoved him away.

“Control yourself, Storm,” she ordered. “You’ve got this, Rey.”

“Thanks.” Rey walked away, putting a little distance between the van and canopy where the others were huddled over their equipment. She wondered if she should stretch or something, but she felt loose already. Rey looked back and saw that the others were watching her. 

_Of course_ _they are, Allen. Get a grip. All you have to do is run, just really fast._

Finn grinned like a nerd walking into a Hot Topic at the mall and gave her a thumbs-up, while Rose observed with an impassive expression. Dr. Rax, however, was staring at her with an intensity that made her shiver.  

Rey awkwardly crouched down in a starting position because she didn’t know what else to do. “Ok, Rey, you’ve got this,” she whispered to herself. She looked up from the cement where she’d braced her fingertips, gazing down the length of the runway. Rey closed her eyes, feeling the tingling energy rising in her blood. 

Then she exploded forward, cutting through the air and leaving a vacuum in her wake. 

It felt amazing. She was so free, beyond the reach of anything that could try to stop her. She glanced back and saw that she’d blown the canopy over, scattering papers with the force of her launch.

“Whooohoooo!” 

Rey couldn’t help but laugh into the wind, her euphoria rising. She could see the lightning crackling around her, and suddenly she was thrown back into a memory.

“ _HENRY!”_

_“Mom!”_

_“Rey, baby, stay there! Please!_ _”_

Rey’s concentration faltered and she didn’t see the fissure in the old concrete. Her foot caught on the edge and she tumbled forward, trying her best to tuck and roll, but she couldn’t help but skid several yards further. Rey moaned, lying flat on her back, trying not to look at herself and the impressive case of road rash she’d gotten to rival that seen in educational tapes from high school driver’s ed classes. 

A minute later, Rose and Finn ran up to her with an inordinate amount of medical supplies. 

“I - I don’t think my foot’s supposed to look like that,” Rey gasped, referring to the ankle joint that was quickly swelling, bent at an unnatural angle.

“That’s a negative,” Rose confirmed as Finn began to pull out bandages and antiseptic and lay them on the ground. 

“It hurts,” Rey whimpered. 

“Not for long,” Rose said, staring at Rey’s arm. “Look.”

They all looked, watching as the massive scrape on her arm began to heal, the skin scabbing and scarring until even the silvery scar tissue had shrunk and vanished.

“Whoa,” Finn said. “I was right about the regeneration.”

“What about my ankle,” Rey groaned as she sat up, hissing when her movements jostled the injured joint. 

“I’ll probably have to set it before it can heal,” he guessed, glancing at Rose.

“Hey, Rey,” Rose said, turning to Rey. “How did your boyfriend react yesterday when you saw him? What was his name... Ben, right?”

“Ben? Ben’s not my -” 

Rey screamed when Finn adjusted her ankle into place and her leg jerked against his grip involuntarily as Rose held it in place. Quickly, Finn began to wrap the injury with an ace bandage as Rey tried not to be sick. She felt sweaty and lightheaded, but Rose was supporting her so that she couldn’t slump over. 

“Sorry,” Finn apologized. “I just know it’s better not to know it’s coming.”

“Yeah,” Rey got out, her breathing finally slowing.

“Let’s get you back to S.T.A.R. Labs,” Rose said.

~---~

Back in the cortex, Rey was on the examination table for the second time that day, now wearing a hoodie and sweatpants printed with the S.T.A.R. Labs logo.

“The x-ray shows no damage. Your ankle looks perfectly fine, almost like you never broke it in the first place,” Finn said. 

“How is that possible?” Rey demanded. “An hour ago it was bent backwards and hurting like hell.”

Dr. Rax barely even glanced at the image on the screen, looking instead at Rey. “It seems that your metabolism has been increased exponentially, thereby allowing your body to speed up the rate of healing.”

“That would make sense with the data we collected at the airfield,” Finn interjected. “Rey’s heartrate was well over a thousand beats per minute for a few seconds towards the end. For anyone else, that would mean she’d be dead.”

“Yes, she got up to a hundred miles per hour right at the end,” Rose added. 

Rey winced, thinking about her nose dive across the concrete at that speed. She wasn’t sure she’d even gone that fast in a car before, even though she did have a tendency to go well above the speed limit when she was late. Not that that happened often or anything. 

Dr. Rax turned shrewd eyes on her. “That would explain why your heart mysteriously kept stopping in the hospital. You weren’t really dying, Rey. Your heart was just going too fast for their equipment to pick up.”

“And the power outages,” Rose continued. “Did you guys see the energy readings we were getting off of her when she was running?” 

“Power outages?” Rey asked.

“Yeah, every time you crashed, the power at the hospital was going out.” Finn explained. “It was kind of a madhouse anyway with everything that was going on that night. That’s part of reason why your family let us move you here.”

“Look at this,” Rose interrupted, holding up the tablet in her hands. Rey craned her neck to see the screen that the other three were crowded around, catching a glimpse of a line shooting off the end of a graph. “That’s the spike in energy around Rey when she started running.”

“It was like lightning,” Finn enthused, catching Rey’s eyes. “Rey, you are the most amazing thing on the planet.”

Rose huffed as Rey blushed. 

“But I'm ok, right? I’m not going to spontaneously combust or something, right?”

“I don’t believe so, no,” Dr. Rax said, spinning his chair to face her once again. “Your body is clearly capable of handling the increased stress. I would, however, like Finn to run some analysis on your DNA, if that’s alright with you. The lightning has fundamentally changed your biology, Rey, and I’d like to know to what extent.” 

“I’ll get right on that,” Finn said, disappearing further into his lab. 

Rose shifted on her feet. “I’m going to go check on a project. I’ll catch you later, Rey.”

“Ok, bye.”

That left Rey with Dr. Rax, watching her with shrewd eyes. Rey shifted on the exam table.

“What happened out there, Rey? You were moving fine, then something distracted you.”

Rey looked down at her hands lying in her lap. “Do - do you know about my parents?” She glanced up to see the confirmation in Dr. Rax’s face. She suspected as much. It took some people longer than others, but eventually everyone put two and two together – her last name, her age, the fact that her parents were absent.

_You’re Rey Allen? The girl whose parents killed themselves?_

_Do you think you should be drinking? You might end up murdering someone._

_It must_ _suck_ _to have your parents die like that_ _, but at least your_ _father_ _didn’t kill you too._

_Do you think you have the crazy_ _gene_ _your dad had, and you’ll just snap someday?_

Some people were more sensitive than others, but none of them had any doubt that her dad was responsible for the death of her parents. The police and the psychologists didn’t believe her when she was a kid, and they sure as hell didn’t believe her now as an adult. The evidence was plain – it didn’t matter what she saw or thought she saw that night almost sixteen years ago. Sometimes she even doubted herself, but now Dr. Rax was listening with an open expression.

“Everyone thinks my dad stabbed my mom, then shot himself. All the evidence said so.” She swallowed, then continued. "But there was someone else there that night, in my house. There was a man in yellow, and there was this storm – this vortex of red and yellow lightning, right in our living room, trapping my mom.” Rey looked to Dr. Rax, still expecting him to call her crazy, but he nodded encouragingly so she kept going. 

“Everyone thought I was making excuses, that I couldn’t understand what I had seen so I was making up a story, something better to tell myself to make it easier. But I knew what I saw. My whole life, I’ve been searching for the impossible, like what I saw that night to prove that my parents aren’t crazy drunks who killed themselves.” She was rambling, and she knew it. “I never found anything. But now, I have these –  _powers._ I am the impossible. And when I was running, I saw the lightning I made, and it was just like the man in yellow.” Rey met his gaze. "Do you think there’s someone else like me?”

Dr. Rax took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes before putting them on again. “I think you are unique, Rey. I don’t mean to disappoint you or discredit what you witnessed, but your abilities are the result of the particle accelerator’s malfunction. That happened nine months ago. Your parents died over a decade ago.”

Rey slumped, dejected. Dr. Rax rolled closer and laid a hand on her knee. 

“I’m sorry that that's not the answer you were hoping for, Rey. But I believe I know you, Rey, and you will work to uncover the truth, I have no doubt.” 

“Thank you,” Rey whispered. 

“Go home, Rey,” Dr. Rax said, maneuvering his chair out of the room. “I’m sure you’re tired and your family will be worrying about you.”

“Oh, shit,” Rey exclaimed. “Luke probably still thinks I’m in my lab.” 

She pulled out her phone as she rushed past Rose and Finn sitting at the computers in the cortex toward the elevator that would take her to the main entrance. Abruptly she skidded to a halt as she remembered.

“Can I keep the hoodie?"

“Sure,” Rose said, shooing her away.

“Thanks!”

“Bye, Rey!” Finn hollered after her. When she’d scurried out of sight, he turned to Rose. “ _This_ _._ Is freaking awesome.”

Rose just rolled her eyes. 

~---~

“Hey,” Rey said as she entered the house. “Sorry I disappeared earlier. I had to go back to S.T.A.R. Labs to take care of a few things.” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Luke said from the couch. “I expect visiting the precinct was a bit much for your first day back.”

“No, it was good. I was glad to see everyone, even if it did feel like I was being mobbed.” Rey stepped down into the living room and curled up in the loveseat across from Luke, kicking off her shoes.

“You're a popular person, Rey. Everyone likes you for some odd reason,” Luke teased before he changed the topic. “Anyway, Captain Kanata chewed me out for letting you come in so soon. She doesn’t want you to start until you’re sure you’re ready.”

“I think I’d like to start Sunday. I want to get back to normal as soon as possible.”

“Normal is good,” Luke agreed.

 _You have no idea,_  Rey thought, looking at her hand, which thankfully wasn’t vibrating. She didn’t know how to tell him about her newfound ability without either sounding crazy or freaking him out. Anyway, Rey would rather wait until she knew exactly what was going on before she tried to explain it to someone else.

“Kid! You’re alive!”

“Han?”

Han Solo stood in the doorway to the kitchen, a goofy grin covering his face. Rey jumped up and gave him a rib-cracking hug while he awkwardly patted her on the back before clearing his throat.

“Ok, that’s enough of that,” he said after a moment.

Rey released him and stepped back.

“Luke, you were supposed to call us when she showed up,” Han accused.

Luke just shrugged. “I was about to light the fire for the smoke signals, but then you just broke into my house anyway.”

“Is it really breaking in if you have a gate between our yards so you can bust up into our house whenever you want?”

“Yes.”

“That doesn’t seem right.”

“Too bad.”

Rey plopped back down in her seat, enjoying the familiar banter. It never ceased to amaze her how the two older men who were well-established adults were reduced to middle schoolers again when they were put in the same room. It made her sad that the Solos weren’t around more often. It had probably been at least eight months before the lightning strike that she’d seen Han, which made it well over a year if she included her time in the coma. She wasn’t even sure when the last time had been that she’d seen Leia.

“Well, you look good, kid. Last I heard you were pretending to be Sleeping Beauty.”

“I guess that makes Bruno Mars the prince.” Both men looked confused until she related the story of her awakening, including Finn’s love of tests and Rose’s frequent eye-rolling. 

“That’s quite the tale,” Han commented. “I’m glad you got out of there though. I hate needles.” He made a face.

Rey laughed.

 **“** Anyway, where’s Ben? I’m surprised that boy of mine doesn’t have you confined to bed with all the crazy that happened to you.” Rey watched in amusement as he seemed to replay that sentence in his head. “Oh, um, I didn’t mean it like -”

“I’m right here,” Ben said, coming in the front door, his face already betraying his exasperation. Rey hoped he hadn’t heard his father misspeak – it was always awkward enough when others thought they were a couple, but it was worse when Han or Luke made the occasional clumsy comment. Rey chalked the discomfort up to the fact that they were sort of kind of cousins because she’d lived with Luke growing up, as well as being next door playmates, straddling the line of family and friends. Still, they’d both become comfortable with whatever they had now, setting aside definitions.

Ben stepped down into the living room, standing next to where Rey sat with legs crossed at the end of the couch. His face was already settling into his tolerant scowl as he nodded at the other two men in the room. Displeased, Rey caught his eye and pointed to her mouth, giving him an exaggerated frown. Unfortunately, that did nothing to alleviate his own dour expression.

“Han,” he acknowledged his father.

“Ben.”

Rey let out an obnoxious sigh. “Wow,” she said, rubbing her arms. “It suddenly got a little chilly in here, didn’t it? Or is it just me?”

All three men gave her an expression that clearly said  _don’t_. 

“Yikes, ok, just me then.” No one made a move, so she barreled on. “Anyone hungry? Because I’m starving.” 

“I am,” Leia said, walking in from the back to join her husband. “And I’m guessing Luke doesn’t even have a moldy carrot stick in his fridge.”

“No, I don’t have moldy carrot sticks, thank you very much,” Luke muttered.

“Leia!” Rey exclaimed.

Leia accepted Rey’s embrace a little more easily than Han had. Rey couldn’t help but linger a while in the arms of the closest person Rey had to a mother. Eventually, though, she relinquished her hold, letting Leia go.

“Welcome back, Rey,” she said.

“What are you doing here?”

“I came to see you. We were so worried about you, and when Ben told us you had woken up, I managed to arrange things at work so that we could come.”

Rey glanced at Ben, who looked like he was trying to blend into the wall. It didn’t work. She was amazed that he would make the effort to reach out to his parents, even if it was for her.

“So, you were saying something about being hungry?” Leia prompted.

“Yes, please,” Rey said. “Can we get something to eat? I’m feeling a little lightheaded.” Immediately, four concerned people took a step closer as if to catch her if she fainted. “Whoa, I was joking! Joking! I’m fine, ok? Let’s just find get some food, alright?”

“I’ll order pizza,” Leia said, always taking charge. “It’s been so long since I’ve been home that even the mustard in the fridge is bad.”

An hour later, they were all crowded around the table in a contented silence, empty cardboard boxes and the lingering smell of grease and garlic the only evidence that there had been five pizzas on the table. Rey herself had eaten two of them in addition to half an order of bread sticks, which Leia had encouraged, saying that Rey hadn’t eaten solid food in nine months so she deserved it. Rey had thrown Ben a smirk as if to say  _that’s how you feed an ex-comatose patient_. She supposed theoretically that downing two whole pizzas should have made her feel self-conscious, but she still felt ravenous. She frowned to herself. Maybe that was a side effect of whatever was going on with her. She’d have to ask Finn when she saw him next. 

“So, Ben,” Leia started. Rey winced, having heard that opening before and already anticipating how this was going to go. “How’s work been?”

“Fine,” Ben answered.

“Still getting along with your coworkers?”

“Mostly.”

“Any big stories?”

“Not since the particle accelerator exploded, and I was somewhat preoccupied when that happened.” His eyes flicked to Rey before returning to the grease-stained paper plate in front of him.

 **“** You still had time to work, Ben. Don’t let life get in the way. Take advantage of the opportunities in front of you.”

Ben looked up at Rey again, his eyes stormy. “Mother, I had to focus on making sure Rey was alright.”

“Well, you could have used that.”

“Used that?”

“Yes! You could have written a human-interest piece about how the particle accelerator affected you, or an opinion about the handling of the crisis afterwards - “

“Mother,” he said firmly. “I am not going to use what happened to Rey to – to further my career.” He shoved his chair away from the table and stormed out the front door, slamming it behind him so that the windows rattled.

“That went well,” Han said into the silence.

“Han,” Leia said wearily, rubbing her eyes. She looked up at Rey. “I’m sorry, Rey. I didn’t mean to imply that he should use your accident like that.”

“It’s fine,” Rey assured her. “Honestly, I didn’t take it that way.”

Leia sighed. “Why does he always seem to, though?”

“I’ve asked myself that many times,” Han mused. Luke stayed silent.

“I’ll go talk to him,” Rey said, throwing her crumpled napkin on her plate before getting up. 

She went outside and found him sitting on the front deck. The porch light hadn’t been turned on so the only illumination came from the yellow glow of the street lights. It was warm, promising a hot summer, and the fireflies were out in force, twinkling over the dark lawn.

“Hey,” she said. 

“Hey.”

“You ok?”

Ben grunted. “Doesn’t seem like it, does it?”

Rey sat down next to him on the bench, the stiff weather-resistant cushion crinkling as she adjusted her seat. “I’m sorry.”

“For what? You didn’t just walk out on your mother.” 

Rey stiffened slightly.

“Oh, shit, Rey, I’m sorry, I just - “ He paused, taking a deep breath while he collected his thoughts. “For someone who uses words to make a living, you think I’d be able to talk to someone without completely screwing everything up.”

“I understand what you mean,” Rey said softly. She felt him relax next to her. 

“I just don’t understand why they can get under my skin so easily. Like they just pop up out of nowhere and pretend that they care about my life. They think they can disappear for months on end and then show up and talk like everything’s fine. You know they didn’t come back after I told them what had happened to you? My mother sent flowers.  _Flowers._  To someone in a coma. I bet her secretary did that. She never made time for me, and now doesn’t even make time for you. All of it’s a lie.”

Rey reached out and twined her fingers with his where they lay on his knee. Eventually he responded, flipping his hand in hers so that their palms were pressed together.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to dump that rant on you,” Ben apologized. He was turned towards her now, half his face in shadow, away from the glow of the streetlights. “I’m glad you’re back, Rey. It’s good to have someone real, someone who’s honest.” 

_Is he leaning closer?_

“Um, about that.” Rey shifted on the bench. “I have something I should really tell you -”

“Hey, kids.” Luke stuck his head out the front door, flicking on the porch light. “Anyone want some ice cream? I found some Klondike bars in the freezer downstairs.”

Rey gave an indignant shriek at the sudden brightness, burying her face in Ben’s shoulder. When the spots behind her eyelids vanished, she looked up to see Ben blinking hard as his eyes adjusted.

“A little warning next time,” she huffed, turning to Luke. “We could’ve been blinded.”

“You two shouldn’t be skulking around in the dark,” Luke returned, unapologetic. “So, ice cream?”

“I don’t think Klondike bars count as ice cream,” Ben said flatly. Rey squeezed his hand in a gentle admonishment before letting go and standing up. 

“I'll take one.” Her stomach already felt hallow, like she hadn’t just broken the world record for amount of pizza in pounds consumed in one sitting. 

“It’s not ice cream,” Ben grumbled, but he followed her inside. 

Rey felt relieved as they crossed the threshold, although she couldn’t define why. The revelation of her newfound ability that she’d been about to share with Ben released its stranglehold on her throat, but it only slid further down, settling like a brick in her stomach. 

In the dining room, the table had been cleared and the foil-wrapped squares that passed as meager excuses for ice cream were already melting. Han had managed to get bits of chocolate and liquified ice cream to dribble down his scruff, and Leia was leaning over with a napkin to wipe it off as he looked at her with a mixture of wonderment and warmth. Luke was quick to tease them, causing Han to huff and scowl. Rey sat down, reaching for one of the bars as Ben followed suite more slowly. She met his eyes, which softened as they caught the contentment in her expression. His lips twitched upwards, the feeling in his eyes reminding her of his father’s just a moment before. The brick in her stomach sank lower. 

Rey decided she would find time to tell Ben everything, just not quite yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey lovely peoples! 
> 
> Please leave a comment and let me know what you think! If you have anything like a favorite line or metahuman or something from The Flash TV show you really wanna see, let me know and I'll try to work it in :)
> 
> I have enough to update tomorrow, so I'll try to get that posted after a quick edit. Subscribe to get notifications!
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on [tumblr](https://a-nerd-obsessed.tumblr.com)

The next day was a Saturday, so Rey took her time sleeping in. And by sleeping in, she meant lying awake in bed after the birds nesting outside her window decided it was time for breakfast at 5 A.M. Her rapid thoughts wouldn’t let her go back to sleep, running in circles, trying to understand everything that had happened in the past few days. 

Her eyes wandered over the walls of her room, taking in the Cloud City North High School pennant on her closet door, the framed pictures of her and Ben during the year they overlapped at CCU next to the window, the newspaper clipping over her desk of Ben’s first published article. It hadn’t changed much since she moved in with Luke, just collecting more and more memories as the years passed. Even now as an adult with a real job, she didn’t feel like taking any of it down. It wasn’t like she ever had anybody over. Besides, bringing anybody home would be awkward with Luke there - at least that’s what she told herself to explain her lack of a dating life.

Rey knew she was embracing her Millennial status by not moving out, but it was just too expensive to live in her own place in the city. Ben did it to spite his parents and to have a refuge to escape from the rest of humanity. Rey didn’t need that like he did, and anyway, she figured she wasn’t living in the basement and she didn’t play video games so she wasn’t fulfilling the stereotype completely, and that was a win.

Her phone chimed and she groped over her nightstand to find it. She popped it off the charger, eyeing the notification from Ben, feeling mildly annoyed. His parents had left late last night so Leia could return to work, leaving the house next door unoccupied, but Ben still declined to sleep there, instead returning to his own apartment downtown. Rubbing her eyes, she opened her messaging app.

**_Ben_ ** _9:09am_

_You still want to go out today?_

_If you’re too tired we can stay in_

**_Rey_ ** _9:10am_

_Stop mothering me_

_I’ve been in a coma for nine months. I need to get out and do something_

_Anything_

**_Ben_ ** _9:12am_

_Ok. Noon at Chewie’s?_

**_Rey_ ** _9:13am_

_Hell yes!_

Rey tossed her phone on the covers, not quite ready to move, staring up at the glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to the ceiling that had been there since she was eleven years old.  _Yeah, I should probably take those down_. 

“Get up, Rey,” she said aloud. She sat up with a groan, the sheets tangled around her legs. Rey scrubbed a hand over her face, dreading her morning routine. No matter how much she tried, it took entirely too long to make herself presentable, at least to her standards. Ben and Luke had assured her multiple times that she didn’t have terrible bedhead, but she knew better.

Her feet hit the rug and she stood up with a stretch. Yawning, Rey relaxed, feeling a fizzle run down her spine that was becoming more familiar. And that’s when inspiration struck.

Her room became a whirlwind of lightning as she went through her morning routine at twenty times normal speed, even going the extra step of making her bed. She skidded to a halt in front of the mirror, checking to make sure her outfit was appropriate for a summer-afternoon-in-the-city look. 

“You alright up there?” Luke hollered up the stairs. “Sounds like a lot of activity all of a sudden.”

Rey winced, having forgotten Luke was in the house in her mad dash to get dressed. “It’s all good! Just getting ready!”

“Alright, then. Pancakes on the stove if you want them.”

“Ok, thanks!” Rey let out a breath. She’d have to be more careful about using her speed or Luke would find out. 

She checked her phone again, then groaned.  _9:18am_. Still over two hours till she had to meet Ben.

~---~

“This is amazing,” Rey said, taking another bite of cornbread topped with barbecue brisket.

“You say that every time we come here,” Ben said.

“But it’s true every time, and it needs to be said.”

“Does it?” Ben wondered aloud, mopping up the juices on his plate with a piece of white bread.

“Yes,” Rey declared. “And since you won’t, it’s my responsibility to make sure it does.”

Ben snorted, popping the bread into his mouth, the fond look in his eyes giving away his scornful façade until they shifted to a point above her shoulder.

“Hi, Chewie,” Ben said. Rey craned her neck to look up at the towering man, his bushy, brown hair nearly obscuring his face. His beard was long and thick, but when Rey had teasingly told him that he looked like he was copying Duck Dynasty, Chewie had replied in an offended tone that  _he_  was the original.

“Hey, kids,” Chewie growled, his voice so low that Rey swore she could feel it in the seats of the booth her and Ben shared. “How’s the meat?”

“Absolutely amazing! It melts in my mouth. I could eat it for days,” Rey gushed.

“It’s good, Chewie,” Ben said a little less forcefully than Rey. Chewie grinned, tilting his head.

“Good. See ya, kids.” He ruffled the hair on Ben’s head as he left, causing Ben to frown and try to rake it back into position with his fingers, inadvertently getting sauce in his hair.

“Why does he always have to do that?” Ben muttered. Rey grinned, half-rising and leaning over the table to fix his hair. She knew Ben couldn’t really get mad since he had almost grown up at Chewie’s because Han was best friends with the best pit master in Cloud City. Rey had been inducted into the world of Chewie’s barbecue almost as soon as she moved next door to the Solos. 

“It just means he likes you,” she pointed out.

“But I’m not three anymore,” he said petulantly.

“Get over it.”

He sighed, pulling out his wallet. “You ready to go?”

“Sure.”

He grabbed the check before she could, taking it up to the register to pay despite her protestations. After settling their bill and waving goodbye to Chewie, they pushed through the door onto the street.

“So, where to now?” Rey asked.

“We could go to the summer theater in the park. I thought it be a good idea because it’s raising funds for people affected by the particle accelerator explosion this year.”

She went quiet for a moment, thinking about others like her who’d been a victim to the explosion but maybe hadn’t ever woken up or had their homes and livelihoods destroyed by the fallout. Ben watched her downcast expression with concern.

“Or not. If you’re not interested, we could find something else.”

“What’s playing?”

“How should I know?” he retorted.

“You’re supposed, Mr. I-Know-Everything-Because-I'm-Three-Years-Older.”

Ben gave her a flat stare. 

Rey smirked fondly. She had to admit it was a thoughtful suggestion. “Fine, let’s go.”

They walked over a few blocks until they came to the riverfront, then made their way along the path until they arrived at the park. At the gate, Ben attempted to put some cash in the donation bucket but she preempted him, pulling out a twenty and throwing it into the bucket held by an attendant.

Inside, the production had already started for the midafternoon crowd. Ben took off his light jacket and spread it on the grass before pulling her down next to him, allowing her to lean against him so that she could sit and watch the stage. They weren’t performing a play she recognized, but soon Rey was laughing and clapping along with most of the crowd. Beside her, Ben was watching the performance with a slight crease in his forehead. 

“Come on, Ben,” she said, shoving his shoulder. “Aren’t you enjoying it?”

“I am,” he replied.

“Then why the resting grouch face?”

"I don’t think that’s a thing, Rey.”

She smirked. “I'm pretty sure it is because I’m looking at it right now.”

“No, it’s not,” he said, his scowl deepening. She turned to him to get a better look, but her laugh quickly turned into a gasp when she noticed something beyond Ben at the edge of the crowd.

“Ben, that man has a -”

Gunshots rang out over the crowd, followed by people screaming and shoving. 

“Rey!” Ben pulled her close to his side even as the crowd pushed against them. 

A lone gunman stood on the edge of the field, waving a semi-automatic weapon and shouting incoherently. Rey couldn’t hear what he said over the cacophony, but he was very clearly distressed and angry.

Ben began to push through the panicked mob, his grip on Rey’s wrist almost bruising. Suddenly, the crowd surged, breaking between them.

“Ben!”

Even with his height, Rey lost sight of him. She began to cut diagonally across the flow towards the edge of the crowd until it spat her out against the barrier surrounding the field. She clung to it, trying to find Ben in the chaos. That’s when she remembered, the energy rising in her bloodstream.

Time slowed, grinding to a standstill. Rey had all the time in the world to think, but she didn’t need to. She could use her speed to search for Ben, to save him from danger, to pull him out of harm’s way. But she could do more, too. 

In a flash, she was in front of the gunman, who was close to the stage now. He was barely moving from her point of view, stilled in the act of unleashing a spray of bullets on the crowd. Deftly, Rey plucked up the projectiles as they crawled through the air, then relieved the man of his weapon, unloading it and depositing it in the hands of a police officer who was arriving on the scene who was frozen in time. She grinned, pleased with her work.

_Now to find Ben._

She dashed back to the crowd pressing through the entry gate, creating a bottleneck. She was just scanning the people pouring into the larger park when she felt the tingling sensation flooding her system stutter, the lightning that followed her movements flickering out.

_What the -_

Rey glanced down at her hands and found that the snapping tendrils of lightning were no longer visible. She looked up and saw the people began to move at a normal speed, even as black spots swam across her vision. 

Her last thought was  _Ben’s going to kill me_ as she slumped down into darkness.

~---~

“Rey? Rey! Come on, Rey!”

Rey woke to the visage of a frantic Ben bent over her as she sprawled in the grass, his hands cupping her face.

“Rey, can you hear me?”

“I’m not deaf,” she mumbled.

“Oh, thank God,” Ben said, sitting back on his heels while staying close to her side. “I thought maybe you’d been shot or something.”

“Your first clue would’ve been that I’m not bleeding,” she pointed out, rearranging her limbs into something that resembled dignity.

“That’s not funny,” Ben scowled **.**  Repressing a smirk, Rey decided it was bad that Ben’s pout made her want to laugh even when she had just fainted in public. But he was just so darn adorable sometimes that she couldn’t help it, especially when he was worried about her. Still, it wasn’t good to laugh at his distress on her behalf. Beyond Ben, she could still hear a confusion of shouting and sirens in the aftermath of the shooting. Ben glanced over his shoulder to where she was looking just in time to catch a glimpse of the gunman, now resigned and pliant, being escorted to a squad car. Rey sighed, pleased that her stunt had worked. Ben, however, interpreted her sigh differently.

“Are you feeling alright? Do you think you’re going to faint?” He leaned over her again. “I should get one of the medics.” Ben made to get up and run over to one of the ambulances that had appeared since she’d black out, but she grabbed his wrist.

“Listen to me, Ben, I’m  _fine_.” Rey tugged him back before she pushed herself to situpright, fighting a sudden bout of dizziness, followed by a stabbing ache in her stomach. 

“Do you have something to eat? My stomach feels weird,” she said, trying not to look as anemic as she felt.

“No, but I can get something. Just stay right here.” He pushed up from the ground to tower above her. “You’ll be ok for a few minutes?”

She looked up at him, his strong build framed against the sky.  _Wow, leave it to Ben to make the worst selfie angle_ _look_ _hot_. She glanced away, startled by the thought as she nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

He quickly stalked away in the direction of the park’s concessions stand. Rey pulled out her phone and scrolled up her contacts, finding the new one she’d made for Finn yesterday.

**_Rey_ ** _4:06pm_

_So_ _any idea why I’d randomly faint while using my speed?_

**_Finn Storm_ ** _4:07pm_

_You fainted?! Are you ok?_

**_Rey_ ** _4:07pm_

_That’s what I’m asking you_

**_Finn Storm_ ** _4:08pm_

_I don’t know. I can’t make diagnoses over text message_

**_Rey_ ** _4:08pm_

_Ugh_

Rey frowned at her phone. It seemed she’d be making another visit to S.T.A.R. Labs. She tried to perk up a little when she saw Ben returning, scattering the clusters of emotional bystanders clinging to each other as he stalked towards her, something with a straw gripped in his hand.

“Smoothie,” he said, passing it to her. Ben watched in awe as she took the clear plastic cup and drained it, fighting through the threat of brain freeze. “How can you do that? You just consumed a whole slab of ribs and a pan of cornbread all by yourself three hours ago.”

“Nine months in a coma, Ben. Nine months. I have to eat to make up for lost time.”

“It doesn’t work like that.”

“Whatever.”

“Are you two alright?” An EMT came up to them with a concerned expression, holding water bottles and blankets. Rey could see that Ben was about to demand she get a full examination so she spoke quickly before he could.

“We’re fine,” she said. “Just a little shaken up.”

The woman nodded before moving on to the next group. Ben glared at her.

“Don’t start again,” she said, right as both their phones chimed. She glanced down.

**_Finn Storm_ ** _4:12pm_

_Rose is coming to pick you up. She’ll be there in five_

Ben made a noise of disgust at his phone, causing Rey to look up. “What is it?”

“Canady wants me to cover the shooting. Apparently, someone on the broadcasting team spotted me and told him that I was here. He wants to get something published for the online edition as soon as possible.” He glared over at the news crews that that had already pulled up in their vans and were setting up. “Vultures.”

“Well, go join your vulture family,” Rey said, getting to her feet. “Seems like you’ve got a job to do.”

“I’m not leaving you here,” Ben scoffed. “You just fainted.”

“Rose is coming to get me. Don’t worry.”

“Rose? You mean that girl from S.T.A.R. Labs?”

“Well, she’s not a girl, she’s a grown woman with a PhD in mechanical engineering, but yes, that Rose.”

“Why is she coming?”

“Um, I just texted her and told her you had to leave, so said she’d come get me.” Rey realized she desperately needed to improve on her excuse-making skills. “Anyway, I have to go get the results from some tests at S.T.A.R. Labs so it works out.”

He frowned at her suspiciously and Rey fought the urge to avoid his stare, a guilty feeling clenching around her heart. “Ben, just go before you get fired.” 

**“** Canady’s not going to fire me.”

Rey wasn’t so sure, having encountered the editor-in-chief a few times. He seemed to have a general dislike of young people and a congenital defect that left his face in a permanent scowl. She wasn’t a bit surprised that the man had pulled Ben in on his day off. 

“Go do your job, or I’ll fire you for him,” she ordered. “I’ve got Rose to take over babysitting for you. Oh, look! There she is!” Rey waved at the S.T.A.R. Labs van that had just pulled up to curb across the soccer fields. 

He squinted at the van before finally relenting. “Fine. See you later.”

“Bye, Ben,” she called after his retreating back, feeling slightly upset at his abrupt departure, almost reaching out to pull him back. Ben wasn’t stupid, and she needed to figure out a way to tell him everything soon.  _But not quite yet,_  she thought, clenching her hands. Rey shook herself, before walking over to the van. Rose stood next to the parked vehicle, arms crossed.

“Get in,” Rose said, walking around to the driver’s door without any further greeting. Rey obeyed, feeling uncomfortably like a naughty child being picked up at school after being sent to the principal’s office.  _Not_ that she knew from personal experience or anything.

Rose turned the key in the ignition with more aggression than Rey had ever seen someone use to start a car, then peeled away from the curb, leaving the smell of burnt rubber in their wake. Rey held onto the door handle with a white-knuckled grip.

“Is something wrong?” Rey asked through clenched teeth as they careened through traffic.

“No,” Rose said slowly, dragging out the vowel.

Rey huffed. “Is it me? Is it something I did? I mean, I couldn’t help fainting just now, and I really couldn’t help getting struck by lightning, and I really don’t know what else I could’ve done to offend you, so -” 

“It’s not you,” Rose said, her gaze fixed on the road ahead. “Well, not you specifically.” 

Rey snapped her jaw shut, waiting as she clung to her seat. Rose sighed.

“In case you didn’t know, it’s kind of been hard since the particle accelerator exploded. Not just because my reputation and career imploded that night, or because you got dumped on us and became Finn’s new favorite science project.”

Rey grimaced at the description but Rose didn’t seem to notice. 

“My sister died.” Rose’s grip on the steering wheel tightened. 

“I’m sorry,” Rey said softly, feeling stunned by the blunt admission. Rose shrugged but Rey caught a glimmer of moisture in her eyes.

“Yeah, so, sorry if I dump those ‘repressed emotions’on you.”

“You don’t have to be sorry,” Rey said, thinking of her own loss. “My parents died.”

“I know,” Rose said. “No offense, but we had nine months to learn every detail about your life.” 

“That’s not creepy at all,” Rey muttered. “By the way, how did you know where I was?”

“S.T.A.R. Labs has a satellite. A few easy hacks and I pinged your phone.”

“You hacked my phone? I thought you were a mechanical engineer.”

“I took a few classes in grad school for fun. It’s really not that hard.” 

Rey felt indignant. “Did you stalk me on Instagram, too?”

“ _That_ was just Finn,” Rose defended, as if social media stalking was a line that shouldn’t be crossed. “I only found out later, I swear.”

“Is he ok?” Rey asked. 

Rose snorted. “He’s just very enthusiastic. Lacks some social skills. You’ll get used to him.”

“Ok, then,” she said skeptically.

“He really does want to help,” Rose insisted. “He just does it in the most awkward way possible. You gotta love him for it anyway. He’s a good guy.”

Rey smiled, looking out the window. “I know one of those.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next update ETA: Saturday
> 
> Leave a comment to let me know if you liked this chapter!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on [tumblr](https://a-nerd-obsessed.tumblr.com)

“Rey!” Finn exclaimed as Rose and Rey walked into the cortex at S.T.A.R. Labs. “I’ve got the results from the DNA analysis.”

“Hi, Rose,” Rose muttered under her breath. “I’m glad you’re back, Rose. Thanks for picking up Rey, Rose. You’re a great friend, Rose.” 

“Oh, hey, Rose!” Finn greeted her cheerfully. 

Rey tried not to laugh as Rose swore to herself and turned on her heel. “I’m going to my lab. Find me when you’re done gushing over nucleotides.”

“Ok, sure!” He turned to Rey, pulling on a lab coat over his navy blue button down. “Dr. Rax is in the exam room,” Finn said, leading her to the other room. 

“Hello again, Rey,” Dr. Rax said. The gray turtleneck sweater he wore made him look especially severe. “I heard you had an incident just now.”

“There was a shooter downtown.” Rey wasn’t sure why, but she didn’t like how Dr. Rax ignored the larger issue in favor of her even though she knew she should appreciate his concern. “I fainted.”

“But you were running, right?” Finn interjected. “That’s what you said earlier.”

“Uh, yeah. But I feel better now.” Rey decided for the moment to leave out why she had been running. It wasn’t relevant anyway.

“You need to be open with us, Rey. In order to determine what happened to you, we need to know if anything out of the ordinary occurs. I assume you weren’t in the habit of fainting prior to your accident?” he asked with a wry smile.

“No, not really,” Rey admitted, relaxing slightly. “Not ever that I can remember, actually.”

“Well, then, let’s see if we can find out why it’s happening now,” Dr. Rax said.

“Ok, so,” Finn started again as if he’d never been sidetracked, “I looked at the results from the DNA analysis, and it seems like the lightning changed everything about your sequencing.”

Rey blinked.

“Well, ok, not everything, but there’s something new woven throughout your DNA. I’m not quite sure yet, but I think it’s what allows you to connect with and harness the energy you use to move so fast.” He displayed a graphic that highlighted long sequences of code. “It’s also changing the rate of synthesis and the efficiency of your metabolism, which would explain how you can heal so quickly.” 

Rey tried to follow Finn’s mini-presentation - yes, he had made an actual PowerPoint, complete with a double helix background - but even her love of biochemistry and educational background in natural sciences left her lost in the technicalities. Dr. Rax, on the other hand, seemed to be considering everything Finn said with rapt attention. 

“I believe you are correct, Finn,” Dr. Rax said. “Rey’s DNA has been rewritten so that she can connect to the energy, changing her entire biology. In fact, I believe that she would no longer be classified as human by typical standards.”

“Excuse me?” Rey sputtered.

“I’d almost think that you’ve become  _meta_ -human, so to speak.”

"What?”

“Whoa, that’s insane,” Finn breathed, his face an expression of awe before he noticed Rey’s pale face. “You alright, Rey?”

“I think so.”

“What happened?” Rose walked in wearing coveralls that Rey didn’t remember from before, shoving her hands in her pockets. “Sorry, I know I said to come find me but you guys were taking  too long.”

“I just found out I’m not human,” Rey said, sitting down in a chair that thankfully was close by.

“What did you tell her?” Rose demanded of Finn.

“I - I told her that her DNA was completely changed, and Dr. Rax said she wasn’t human anymore, that she’s metahuman, and - “

Rose held up a hand. “Just. Stop.” She looked up to the ceiling for strength, before she turned to Rey. “You’re fine, Rey. You’re not an alien or something. You’ve just gained a new ability to connect to this – this force thing-”

“Speedforce!” Finn interrupted. “That just came to me right now.”

“Sure, speedforce,” Rose continued, “and we’re here to help you figure out how to control it, ok?”

“Ok, that sounds better,” Rey said. “Thank you.”

“Uh huh,” Rose said, then glared at the other two. “Not human? Really?”

The men had the sense to look contrite. 

“And while you were busy telling Rey she was inhuman, I finished the treadmill, so it’s ready for a test run.” She shot another glare at Finn. “And no, that was not a speed pun.”

Finn was beginning to look thoroughly miserable with all the chastisement, watching Rose leave with sad eyes. If Rey looked closer, she could almost imagine a little longing in his eyes too. Dr. Rax followed close behind Rose in his wheelchair.

“Come, Rey,” Dr. Rax said. “Let’s try to find out what is causing your fainting spells.”

In the room next door, they found the largest, most high-tech treadmill Rey had ever seen, surrounded by an array of sensors and cameras. Rey noted curiously that the walls on each end of the treadmill was padded with thick cushions. 

“So,” Rose said. “To figure out what’s causing you to crash and burn, we decided it’d be best to observe you running in a controlled environment. I put together this treadmill which will be able to keep up with your speed, even if you reach ten times what we clocked you at yesterday.”

“Which would be awesome!” Finn interjected. 

“Let me guess, this was one of your fun side projects?” Rey said to Rose, walking closer to inspect the machine. 

“No.” Rose offered no explanation , instead holding out a sweatshirt and pair of joggers similar to the ones Rey had worn previously, as well as the shoes from yesterday. “You might to change into these. I’m working on something more suited for these test runs, but this’ll work for now.”

Finn directed her to the bathroom, where she quickly changed into the clothes Rose had given her. When she emerged, the three of them were crowded into a booth separated from the treadmill chamber by large glass windows. Finn came out and stuck some nodes above her heart and on her temples. “Just to monitor vitals,” he explained.

When Finn had take a seat in the booth again, Dr. Rax leaned forward to speak into a microphone so that his voice came through speakers mounted on the walls of the chamber. “Ok, Rey, I’d like you to get up on the treadmill. Just start off slow, and gradually increase your pace as you feel comfortable.”

“Alright,” she said, moving to stand on the deck. “Is there an on button or something?”

“It’ll start when you start,” Rose said.

Rey began to move, starting with a slow jog. The treadmill responded, moving at her speed. The energy –  _the_ _speedforce_  - began to rise again. Soon she was running all out, feeling lightning crackle and snap around her as the treadmill accelerated to match her pace. The hasty ponytail she had thrown her hair into streamed back in a wind of her own making. She glanced over at the control booth, watching the three scientists move in slow motion, bending over the data readouts on the display. It was funny to see their expressions, as they all looked exaggerated when slowed down. She was still watching when Dr. Rax’s eyes lit up and he turned slowly to Finn, pointing to something on the screen. That happened right when she slipped, the speedforce in her system sputtering and falling from her grasp. 

~---~

“Thank goodness you heal fast,” Finn said when she opened her eyes. “Otherwise, you’d probably just black out again from the pain. You smashed into the wall at 150 miles per hour.”

Rey groaned, sitting upright next to an IV pole, surrounded by a sea of packing peanuts. She realized she was on the floor against the wall of the treadmill chamber, an IV stuck into a vein in her arm. Her body felt like it had been hit by a truck, which she supposed it had been in a way. But even as she thought of it, the pain began to recede as she watched a massive bruise on her knee shrink to nothing.

“The good news is we figured out what’s wrong!” Finn announced. 

“Really?”

“Eat this,” Finn said, shoving an energy bar towards her face. Her stomach gave a twinge right on cue. Rey peeled the wrapper off and began to devour it.

“Ok, so what’s wrong with me?”

“This,” Finn said, picking up the empty wrapper and crinkling it. “I mean, food. Your blood glucose got critically low, so you blacked out. Which, duh, makes so much sense. Increased metabolism means you’re going to have a much higher need for energy. Which, I’m not for sure yet, but I’ve done some preliminary calculations, and you’ll probably need to eat the equivalent of eight hundred tacos a day.”

“What?”

“Unless,” Finn said excitedly, jumping to his feet. “Unless, they’ve got cheese and guac. In which case, it’d be a totally different set of equations.”

Finn left the room in pursuit of the answer to his new problem, leaving Rey sitting on the floor when Rose popped in.

“You feeling better?”

“Yeah, but I guess I’m going to need a few more of these,” Rey said, holding up the empty wrapper.

“I’m going to find Finn and have him help me formulate something so that you can keep your energy up without having to eat however many tacos a day. Even though that sounds amazing, I think you’d like to accomplish other things with your life besides marathon eating.”

“Yeah, thanks. That would be great. I’m pretty sure I can’t afford eight hundred tacos a day with my salary.”

“Sure.” Rose moved to leave.

“No, seriously.” Rey got up from the floor, careful of the line still connecting the empty bag on the pole to her vein. “I know how hard things are for you right now, and you’re still helping me.”

Rose gave her a small, sweet smile. “You’re welcome,” she said. Her eyes shifted to Rey’s arm. “I’ll get Finn to unhook you. See you tomorrow?”

“Sure. Sounds good,” Rey said. 

Finn appeared shortly and made quick work of the IV drip, forgoing a bandage as the small puncture healed before he could unwrap the Band-Aid. 

“Rose told me about her sister,” Rey said quietly.

Finn looked up as he collected the empty bags that had contained glucose solution from the floor. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

Finn nodded slowly. “Her sister was a structural engineer here at S.T.A.R. Labs. Paige was in the pipeline when the particle accelerator exploded making sure that the blast went up, not out into the city. She saved a lot of lives that night. She saved my life.”

“I didn’t know.”

“Nobody knows,” Finn sighed. “She’s a hero, but after what happened, everybody blamed S.T.A.R. Labs. They didn’t want to hear about anything good that happened here, they just wanted to dump all their hurt on us. Dr. Rax said it would be better not to mention Paige because the media would twist it and make her a bad guy.”

“He wanted to hide what Rose’s sister did? For everyone?”

“Yes, and Rose agreed to not tell, but it wasn’t easy for her.” 

Rey frowned. “That doesn’t seem fair. Paige deserves to be recognized for what she did and -” Rey stopped for a moment, thinking of her own parents and how they had been vilified by the media when Rey  _knew_ better, she  _knew_ the truth, even though she told it to everyone who would listen.  **“** But maybe that’s better,” she finished softly.

Finn put a hand on her shoulder. “I know you lost your parents, Rey. I lost a close friend when I was in college – that's what made me decide to become a doctor. We’ve all lost people.”

Rey felt her eyes water.

“We have to help each other. And I think especially Rose, because it’s so new for her,” Finn said, looking into Rey’s eyes earnestly. “I know I can bulldoze people sometimes when I get too excited, so please, if I act like an idiot, let me know, ok?”

Rey wondered that Finn already counted her a close enough friend to keep him accountable to help Rose. Finn seemed to trust others easily, and Rey found that she felt that she could return that trust.

“Sure, I’ll do that,” she said, smiling.

~---~

If Rey expected to take it easy her first day back, she was sorely disappointed.

“Allen, I need results from the blood samples for the Reynolds case, and then I need you on Central and 22nd. There’s been a murder and I need you to go over the scene,” Captain Kanata snapped when Rey was crossing the lobby on her way back from the bathroom.

“Yes, ma’am,” Rey said, already taking the stairs two at a time to her lab. Once there, Rey quickly found the samples that needed testing in the lab’s fridge. Pulling up the file for the case on her laptop, Rey noted the tests that needed to be done before she popped them in the centrifuge. She pushed the button to start the machine’s separation process while she gathered her equipment to head to the crime scene. Except the machine didn’t start.

“Come on,” Rey said, frustrated, smacking the side of the machine before pushing the button again. Nothing happened. “Why me?” she groaned before removing the test tubes. Rey really didn’t want to tell Captain Kanata that she couldn’t do the analysis because her equipment had fallen into disrepair in her absence. She really regretted not coming in sooner, maybe even making time yesterday to come in early. Rey supposed she could’ve run to work herself, but that seemed like asking for trouble she didn’t need. But maybe...

She held the test tubes in her hand, tapping into the speedforce so that she mimicked the motion of the centrifuge, and within seconds, the blood samples had separated into their different components. 

“Huh.”  _This speed thing could be really handy._ Her phone buzzed, jolting her from her reverie, and Rey tore around the lab, gathering the necessary equipment before dashing from the room – at a normal speed because reasons.

Ten minutes later, Rey was slipping under the yellow tape blocking off the alleyway behind a restaurant near the corner of Dunbar and 22nd. 

“Rey!” Luke beckoned her over to a dumpster next to the restaurant’s staff entrance 

“You’re late.” Luke’s partner Art, a short, balding man, crossed his arms and glowered at her.

“Sorry!” Rey apologized. “I had some trouble running some tests at the lab that Kanata wanted, and then I had to walk here on foot.”

“Whatever,” Art said. “The body’s over there.” He walked away, muttering obscenities under his breath.

“Don’t worry about him; he’s just glad you’re back,” Luke said.

Rey smiled, having learned a long time ago that Luke’s cantankerous partner’s love language was swearing, and that he wouldn’t waste air cussing you out if he didn’t like you.

“Anyway, it’s a good thing you’re here,” Luke said, guiding her over to the body. “It’s a bit of an odd one.” He crouched and lifted the tarp to reveal the corpse, its face frozen in a scream, literally.

“What do you think did that?” Luke queried.

Rey pulled on latex gloves with a snap that made Luke flinch, but she didn’t notice. “It looks like something flash-froze his face. See how the blood vessels in the eyes have burst, but the skin isn’t severely blistered?”

Luke pretended to look closer.

“This happened very quickly, and at an incredibly low temperature. The face is only now beginning to thaw.”

“Yeah, ok, so any idea how that happened?”

“It only affected the face and the neck, so whatever did it was precise almost like a weapon that fires  _cold_.”

“A freeze ray?” 

“Maybe. I don’t know. If it was some kind of tech, it was way beyond anything out there now.” Rey began to pull sample containers and evidence bags from her kit. “I’m going to have to run some tests on the tissues and consult with the medical examiner, but it’s definitely something new that we don’t know about.”

“I’ve learned your instincts are pretty good, kid, even if they are a little weird sometimes.” Luke stood up. “I’m going to go check in with Art and see how he’s doing canvassing for witnesses.”

Rey didn’t pay attention as Luke left, still studying the corpse on the ground. She almost wondered for a moment – but, no, the lightning that struck her was a freak accident, a one in a million occurrence. And despite the impossibility, what the lightning had done to her made sense in an odd, mind-bending sort of way. On the most basic level, the accident had merely enhanced her metabolism and her new abilities were just side effects. 

But Rey had heard several times since she’d woken up that others had been affected. She’d just assumed that they meant injuries or property damage or deaths. But that wave of energy from the explosion that had sparked the lightning strike had passed through the whole city, touching countless people. No one knew who they were or where they had been or what they had been doing that when combined with unknown energies, could create more metahumans like her.

Quickly, Rey finished gathering the evidence and samples she needed for her report, she packed up her things and went to find Luke. 

“I’m headed back to the lab,” Rey said. 

“Already? That was quick. You sure you got everything you need?” Luke asked.

“Yeah, and I’ve got a lot to do back at the precinct anyway. See you tonight?” 

“I’ll grab Thai on my way home,” Luke said, waving her off.

“Sounds great.” Rey turned and left the crime scene, passing under the yellow tape at the end of the alleyway. She hurried back to the precinct, almost jogging in her haste, apologizing when her shoulder bag jounced into other passersby.

In her lab where no one could see, Rey zipped around at double speed, labelling and storing the evidence to worry about later before sitting down at the desk. She ran a quick search on her computer, reviewing files from the past nine months. Rey pressed her lips together when the results supporting her hasty hypothesis: there had been a much higher rate of unexplainable crimes and unsolved missing persons since the particle accelerator exploded. She shoved her chair back, then ran down the stairs through the precinct – at a normal human pace – out onto the street, taking a sharp turn into the nearest alleyway. 

“Ok, ok,” she said, heartbeat starting to pick up. When Rey glanced both ways and saw no one, she crouched low and sprang forward. She dashed through the streets, careening around corners and weaving around cars as she sprinted to S.T.A.R. Labs, blowing through the front door and zipping up the stairs until she skidded to a halt in the cortex, accusations ready to spill off her tongue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I just can't shut up. I expected to be a lot further along in the plot but my draft is over 25k and here we are. I'M SORRY! Hopefully it's interesting? Also, Ben will definitely be back next chapter. I swear this really is a Reylo fic.
> 
> Anyway, leave a kudos and comment or stalk me on [tumblr](https://a-nerd-obsessed.tumblr.com) to let me know what you think. I expect an update either tomorrow or the day after depending on how I'm feeling it.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on [tumblr](https://a-nerd-obsessed.com)
> 
> Update: still word vomit. Proceed with caution

When Rey appeared in the vortex in a whirlwind of lightning, Finn shrieked, throwing the stack of papers he’d been holding in the air so they floated down like overgrown snowflakes.

Rose glanced up from the screen she had been frowning at. “Hey, Rey. Do you need an energy bar? We perfected the formula this morning.”

Finn slumped down in a chair, clutching at his chest. “I think my heart just stopped. Help! Can you perform CPR on yourself? I should know; I’m a doctor. I can’t remember. I think I’m dying.” He tugged at the top button of his shirt as if it was choking him.

“You’re fine,” Rose said. “You’re talking way too much for a dying person.”

“Guys!” Rey clenched her jaw. “I wasn’t the only one affected, was I?”

“What are you asking, Rey?” Dr. Rax rolled into the cortex, his demeanor projecting calm as always.

“The night the particle accelerator exploded. I wasn’t the only one who got –  _powers_ , am I?”

Finn and Rose glanced at each other. Dr. Rax folded his hands and set his elbows on the armrests of his chair. “We don’t know.”

“You don’t know? What have you been doing for the past nine months besides creeping on my Instagram?”

“You really need to get over that. Your profile was public,” Finn muttered. Rey glared.

“Your futuristic wonder machine broke, unleashing unknown energy on this city. I came out ok, but others could have been seriously hurt, or they could be using their abilities to hurt others, which is even worse!” she ended up almost shouting.

“Rey!” Dr. Rax said, and she stopped, her face flushed. He waited a moment for her to focus her attention on him. “Did you encounter something that brought this up?”

“Someone was murdered last night, and it was either extremely advanced tech that I haven’t heard of, or it was someone like me – a metahuman.”

Dr. Tax tapped the arm of his wheelchair while Rey fidgeted impatiently. “You asked what we’ve been doing for the past nine months. We have not been passive. At first, we had to preserve what we could, to prevent more damage. During that time, we lost most of our resources and connections. We were severely limited.” He sighed. “S.T.A.R. Labs used to be a powerful influence. It was my life’s work. But in a single moment, it was reduced to what you see now: the three of us and a very empty building.”

Rey saw the frustration and regret cross Dr. Rax’s face, a man once world-renowned, now effectively ostracized. 

“We are trying to do what we can with what tools we have left, Rey,” Dr. Rax said firmly. “So far helping you is the best we can do.”

Rey looked to Rose and Finn, who seemed preoccupied with the slate blue tiles on the floor. She decided to take a breath, relaxing the tightness in her shoulders. “Rose, could I have one of those energy bars?”

The tension in the room eased and Rose gave her a brief smile that Rey thought she only caught because of the speedforce lingering in her system. 

“Sure, I’ll get you two,” Rose said. “Come with me.”

Rose took her to a lab that looked like it belonged on the set of America’s Test Kitchen, stainless steel cabinets and every appliance ever conceived making it a food scientist’s dream come true. Rose opened the fridge that looked more like a spaceship to Rey than a cold storage unit, revealing an empty interior except for a pile of foil-wrapped bars.

“Here,” Rose said, handing her two. “Keep out of reach of children. One thousand calories a pop. All the vitamins and minerals a busy speedster needs.”

“Speedster?”

“Finn’s term for what you are,” Rose explained.

“Ah.” Rey ripped off the wrapper to expose an unappetizing brown stick. She wrinkled her nose.

“It’s peanut butter and chocolate flavored. I wanted to fit in more calories, but Finn said taste was more important.”Rose shrugged. 

Tentatively, Rey took the bar in her front teeth, biting down slowly. She was surprised when the flavor and texture didn’t make her gag. Actually, it was pretty good, and she told Rose as much.

“It’s not bad.” Rey chewed and swallowed the bite in her mouth. “You want to try.”

Rose declined with a terse shake of her head. “Not all of us have super metabolism, and trust me, it’s hard for the rest of us to stay in shape without consuming over half a day’s calories in one bite.”

Rey shoved the rest of the bar into her mouth with a bit of relief. She could already feel her blood sugar rising, improving her mood. These bars would be essential so she didn’t eat Luke out of the house – she'd finished three boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios that morning for breakfast and hidden the cardboard in the recycling bin because she felt so guilty. 

She gnawed on the second bar Rose had given her as they returned to the cortex where Dr. Rax and Finn still were, talking together over the computer screens.

“So,” Rey said, drawing their attention. “Are there others like me?”

“Metahumans,” Finn corrected.

“Sure, other metahumans,” Rey said.

“We haven’t been able to confirm anything,” Dr. Rax said, “but we believe it is extremely likely that there are unidentified metahumans in Cloud City.” He tapped a few times on the tablet propped on his wheelchair before looking up at a display screen on the wall, where a map of the city popped up. “This is a simulation of what happened the night of the accident. First the accelerator went live as planned.”

Rey watched as a point glowed over the location of S.T.A.R. Labs, then grew in circumference, spreading undefined energies over the city. Soon that had dissipated, leaving behind pockets of fluxing energy.

“We felt like heroes,” Rose remembered. “And then it all went wrong.”

“A dimensional barrier ruptured unleashing unknown energies into our world. Anti-matter. Dark energy. X-elements,” Dr. Rax continued.

“Those are all theoretical,” Rey scoffed. 

Dr. Rax turned serious eyes on her. “And how theoretical are you?”

Rey changed direction. “What have you found about other metahumans?”

“Nothing conclusive,” Dr. Rax said. “It appears that most of them, if they exist, would prefer not to be found, which is a good, natural instinct.”

Rey shifted her stance. She was familiar with that instinct, recalling her omissions to her family and friends about her activities since she’d woken from the coma. She also remembered her frightening near-misses when they had almost discovered her secret, and that was only in the past few days. “Surely somebody will have done something and it’s online somewhere.”

“We’ve been running algorithms -” Rose began, but Finn cut in, clearing his throat from his seat behind the monitors.

“Um, it looks like we found one.” He flicked his finger across the screen, throwing it onto the larger display so that everyone could see. It was shaky footage from the scene of the shooting the day before, quite obviously recorded on a phone. The view was taken from several yards away from the stage, showing the man ranting and waving his weapon threateningly. There was a burst of gunfire, but at that exact moment, a blur of maroon – Rey recognized the color of the Dr. Pepper t-shirt she’d been wearing – appeared in front of the gunman and disappear just as quickly. The man was left standing bewildered, empty-handed. 

“ _What was that?!”_  the invisible person holding the phone shrieked excitedly before the video cut to the grass then restarted on a loop. Finn paused the video, scrolling down to look at the hit count.

“It’s got over ten thousand views! You’re going viral!” Finn enthused, but Rose cut him off.

“What were you thinking? You could have been killed!”

“I saved people,” Rey pointed out, her brow wrinkled. 

“And you fainted right after! What if that had happened while you were in front of those bullets? Super healing only works if you’re alive!”

“What was I supposed to do? Let all those people die when I could have done something?”

“Yes,” Rose hissed. “Your speed is not a toy to play with. We don’t know what your limits are, and until we know more, you  _cannot_  run around playing hero!”

“I am not going to let people die if I have any chance of stopping it!” 

Rose’s face was a furious storm, her fists clenched at her sides. Rey was almost afraid that the feisty engineer would pull out a stun gun and take her out right then, and Rey did not doubt for a second that she was capable of it. 

Instead, after a few tense moments, Rose’s eyes began to fill and she turned on her heel to flee the cortex. If S.T.A.R. Labs didn’t have an open floor plan, Rey was sure she would’ve slammed the door behind her.

“I’m sorry,” Rey said, turning to the others. “I didn’t mean to upset her, I just...” She drifted off, not wanting to justify her actions the previous day. If she was honest, she didn’t feel a need to. Finn fidgeted uncomfortably, looking at her with conflicted eyes.

“Finn,” Dr. Rax said, gesturing towards where Rose had disappeared. “Please go make sure Ms. Tico will be alright.”

“Oh - uh, yes, sir,” Finn stuttered, looking relieved to get out of the room. Dr. Rax waited until Finn was gone before he spoke again.

“Although she may not have explained herself in a reasonable tone, I agree with Rose on this.” 

Rey started to protest, but Dr. Rax held up a hand.

“I understand why you may have wanted to save those people and felt that your ability gave you a duty to intervene, but you have to think beyond that single incident. Your biology has evolved in ways we don’t know, that could provide scientific breakthroughs that we haven’t even conceived of yet.”

“Incident? People were going to  _die_.”

“I understand. But you don’t truly know your powers yet. You may have ended up causing more harm than good by using your speed.”

Rey tried to allow him that, but how could she explain how it felt when she was running faster than a Formula One car? How she could see everything coming, how in control she felt?

“I’m not going to hurt anyone,” she protested.

“Your ability has the potential to be dangerous, Rey. You need to learn how to control it, and it’s my responsibility to ensure that the effects of my mistakes are not perpetuated in you. I’ve already hurt enough people in this city without unleashing a powerful metahuman on the streets.” 

Rey felt indignant at his assumption that she was out of control, that she was just a lab experiment that needed to be tested, but he looked so sad and weary in that moment that her heart softened. She was reminded again how she had missed nine months.

“What do you want me to do?” Rey said. “I can’t just  _not_ help people. That’s not who I am.”

Dr. Rax took off his glasses and scrubbed a hand over his face, letting out a sigh. “I don’t want you to use your speed until we know more. That doesn’t mean you can’t help people, Rey,” he said, preempting her protest. “But help others as Rey, not a metahuman. Meanwhile, we will try to ascertain more about your abilities and any other metahumans that may exist.”

“Let me help. I can bring the evidence from the metahuman attack,” Rey suggested, trying to swallow her frustration. Her brain told her that Dr. Rax was right, that he was only trying to protect her and others. But a part of her knew she wouldn’t be able to stop herself if someone was in danger.

Dr. Rax nodded. “That would be fine. Finn and Rose can help you. I imagine that three minds will be better than one.”

“Thanks,” Rey said. “Oh, and could I borrow some shoes?” She displayed the soles of her lace-up oxfords through which the bottoms of her feet were visible.

Dr. Rax finally cracked a smile. “I’ll have Finn find you something.” 

Rey had only been waiting a minute after Dr. Rax left when Finn and Rose reappeared. Rose’s eyes were still a little pink, but she looked calm. Rey noted Finn’s hand on her back.

“I’m sorry,” Rey said. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Rose gave her a weak smile that faded quickly, but she spoke sincerely. “I understand, you had to do what you did yesterday. It’s just that’s what Paige thought too. And she died.”

“That’s why I have to,” Rey said firmly. “My parents died too, and I can’t let what happened to us happen to anyone else.”

“I know,” Rose said. “Just please wait until we can make sure you’re safe?”

Rey nodded, hardly able to refuse Rose in that moment.

“Ok, then.” Rose let out a breath. “I think I’m going to take the rest of the day off.”

“You going to be ok?” Finn asked with concern.

“Yeah I’m fine. It’s just been a lot.” Rose waved to them as she picked up her purse from behind the central computer console and slung it across her body. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Bye!” Finn said.

“Is she really ok?” Rey asked guiltily. “I didn’t mean to be a jerk.”

“She’s tough,” Finn assured her. “She’ll be back better than ever tomorrow.”

“I think you help her a lot,” Rey observed, sitting down in one of the chairs and spinning around. “She seems to feel better when you’re around.”

“Really?” Finn wondered, a slightly hopeful light in his eyes.

“Uh huh,” Rey said, barely suppressing a grin. “I’m sure she’d love it if you check up on her tonight.”

“You think so?” Finn shifted from one foot to the other, pulling out his phone. Rey lunged forward to snatch it from his hand.

“Not now! Tonight – later today. If you text her now you’ll just seem like you’re hovering, not like you just thought of her randomly and wondered how she was doing.”

“Oh, I didn’t think of that,” Finn said. “Ok, thanks.”

“Sure.” Rey stood. “Now, could I get some shoes? These ones aren’t going to work anymore.” She showed him the holes.

“Oof. Yeah, ok, let’s go get something better.”

Finn found the shoes Rose had made for her test run yesterday setting in a drawer in one of the labs and handed them to her.

“Are you sure Rose is ok with me taking these? I was just thinking like some old sneakers or work boots you guys had lying around.”

“Nah, you’d just ruin those too. Anyway, Rose made these for you.”

Rey looked up at him.

“Rey, I know you aren’t going to just stop running around because they asked nicely,” Finn pointed out. “I know I wouldn’t because that has to be  _amazing_.”

“It is,” Rey agreed, turning the shoes in her hand.

“And if you’re going to do it anyway, I’d rather you do it safely. Well, as safely as you can right now,” he amended. “Oh! And check this out!”

Finn led her over to the opposite wall and waved his hand so that a light in an alcove came on, revealing... something crimson.

“What is that?” Rey queried, stepping closer. It looked like a mannequin covered in skin-tight red leather accented with gold piping, complete with masquerade mask over the face. 

“It’s your suit,” Finn stage-whispered.

“My what?”

“Rose is working on making you a suit that can hold up to your speed.”

“It’s very... red.”

“Well, originally it was going to be a uniform for the Cloud City fire department – part of our effort to repair the damage S.T.A.R. Labs cause with the particle accelerator,” Finn explained. “But when you woke up and we found out what you could do, she modified it to fit you.”

Rey took it in, imagining herself dashing around the city, a masked crimson blur saving people. It was ridiculous. “I can’t take this.”

“Oh, no,” Finn said. “Rose would notice for sure if her suit went missing.”

“I thought you said she wouldn’t mind?”

“She won’t. Eventually.”

Rey shook her head. If Finn was trying to get on Rose’s good side, he was sure doing a poor job.

“So, you wanna try it out?” Finn said.

“What, now?”

“Yes!” He jogged around to the computers again. “Let’s listen to the police scanners.”

Reluctantly, Rey followed as Finn tuned into the chatter of the CCPD frequency. After a minute he brightened. “You hear that? A 132 at 12th and Oak! That’s an armed robbery!”

“That’s not a good thing.”

“You ready?”

“I don’t know...”

“Come on, Rey. I know you’re going to anyway, and you’d be better off doing it while you have me as backup. The suit has a communication link in the earpiece, so I’ll be right there with you.”

Rey bit her lip, shifting her weight, before she nodded. “Ok.”

“Yes!” Finn yelled, then glanced around nervously as if Rose or Dr. Rax would materialize out of thin air. “Sorry. Ok, you got to hurry if you’re going to get there in time. Just, try not to make too much of a scene?”

“Right.” Lightning crackled around her, and then she was gone, leaving behind a storm of loose papers and discarded street clothes. Rose’s suit had disappeared with her. 

“That is  _never_ going to get old,” Finn giggled to himself.

“Finn, focus, please?” Rey said over the comm, the sound of rushing wind almost drowning out her voice. Finn frowned. He’d have to mention noise cancellation to Rose as one of her future improvements. 

“Sorry, sorry, I’m here. Where are you at?”

“Two blocks away.”

“Ok, the report said it was just one robber, might be some hostages. Cops are two minutes out.”

“Alright.”

She dashed into the convenience store where a woman was pointing a weapon at the frightened cashier, banging the door open with such force that she was surprised the glass panes didn’t shatter.

“Hurry up! I’m supposed to be out of here already,” she was yelling as the unfortunate customers huddled in the back against the coolers. The woman started when Rey burst in, training the gun on her. 

“What’s the rush?” Rey asked, standing with her arms crossed, hip cocked. She’d have to tell Rose that this suit was the most comfortable thing she’d ever worn in her life.

“Who the hell are you?” the woman demanded. “And what’s with the crazy costume?”

Rey was mute for a second, trying to figure out how to respond. She wasn’t about to announce her name in front of everyone. And she was pretty sure one of the hostages had taken out their phone and was recording.  _Shit, this was supposed to be a quick in-and-out._ Rey was becoming more inclined to agree with Ben that these people were vultures. 

“Rey? What’s going on?” Finn spoke in her earpiece.

“I’m going to have to ask you to hand over your weapon,” Rey said, invoking a confidence she didn’t feel.

“Or you’ll what?” The woman smirked. “Get over there with the others.”

“No,” Rey said.

“You’ve got one more chance,” the woman said, her voice pitching higher as police sirens and red and blue lights began to pour in from the street. “I said move!”

“No.”

“Fine!”

The gun went off and the world slowed as Rey leaned to the side, snatching the bullet from the air before taking the weapon out of the woman’s hands in the blink of an eye. She ran outside, depositing the gun at the feet of an officer before grabbing the handcuffs of his belt and going back inside to retrieve the robber and leaving her standing on the sidewalk, her hands restrained. 

Rey fled, zipping into an alleyway further up the block, leaving an uproar in her wake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow yeah Ben is definitely in the next chapter. _I swear this is a Reylo fic!_
> 
> If you want some more Reylo and some actually good writing, you can catch up on my other fic _[My Favorite Color is You](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14596149/chapters/33734106)_. Otherwise, I anticipate the next update for this one coming Wednesday.
> 
> Leave a comment or catch me on [tumblr](https://a-nerd-obsessed.com) for more fangirling


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on [tumblr](https://a-nerd-obsessed.tumblr.com)
> 
> A little shorter chapter, but Reylo is BACK! (...finally)

“Rey? Rey? Please don’t tell me you got shot.”

“I’m fine, Finn,” she whispered into her earpiece, peering around the corner. More police were emerging from their squad cars including - 

“Oh, shit!” She ducked back around the corner, pressing flat against the wall.

“What? Rey, I can’t see anything! What’s happening?”

“Luke’s here.”

“Did he see you?”

“I don’t think so. I’m coming back now.”

“Ok, be careful.”

Rey dashed through the city in a blur of kinetic energy, arriving back at the cortex in S.T.A.R. Labs in a matter of seconds.

“That was  _awesome_ ,” they said in unison, bursting out in laughter.

“We’re going to have to do that again,” Rey said, removing the mask and brushing fly-away hairs out of her face.

Finn grinned back, standing up from his seat at the computers. “Yes, agreed.”

Rey’s phone chimed from the top of the console where Finn had placed it, along with her discarded shirt and pants from her hasty wardrobe change. She reddened slightly, making a mental note to figure out how to do that more efficiently in the future. Rey unlocked her phone.

**_Ben_ ** _5:09pm_

_Are you still downtown?_

**_Rey_ ** _5:09pm_

_Yes, why?_

**_Ben_ ** _5:09pm_

_Could we meet up for dinner?_

_“_ What is it?” Finn asked, noting her frown. She looked up.

“Ben wants to meet for dinner.”

Finn raised his eyebrows with a half-smile.

“I’ve already told you it’s not like that. Besides, I think he’s mad at me.”

“Why?”

“I haven’t told him everything that’s going on with me, and I think he knows I’m keeping something from him.”

“Yikes,” Finn said, his eyes going wide. “You’re probably right. He’s got these eyes that like burn right through your soul. Whenever he came to visit you, I was pretty sure he knew exactly what I’d had for breakfast just by looking at me. He scares me, I’m not gonna lie.”

Rey huffed a laugh. “He’s not so bad. He just has a resting grouch face.”

“Exactly!” Finn pointed at her as he collapsed back into his seat, swiveling back and forth. “I think he just didn’t like me because I was the doctor and nothing I did made you better.”

“He would’ve been the same to anyone else if that helps.”

“Not really, but thanks,” Finn said. He leaned forward. “So, are you going to meet him for dinner?”

“Mmph. I should.” Rey opened her phone again, pondering the screen for a moment before tapping out a reply.

**_Rey_ ** _5:15pm_

_Coffee at Jitters ok?_

The reply came within seconds.

**_Ben_ ** _5:15pm_

_Sure. On my way, come when you can_

_“_ Ok, I’m going to change and head out,” Rey said, picking up her street clothes.

“So, dinner date with tall, dark, and handsome is a go?”

“Coffee, and it’s not a date.”

“Ouch, you downgraded to a coffee date. Poor guy.”

“It’s not a date!”

“But does  _he_ know that?”

“Of course, we’re practically cousins! I thought you’d researched my entire life so you should know that,” Rey said, feeling flustered despite having this conversation with literally every stranger who caught them together on the street and told them their children would be adorable.

“Hmm. Well, you didn’t see him come here almost every day for nine months and watch you sleep. It definitely wasn’t a I’m-watching-my-cousin-sleep look in his broody eyes.”

“Wow, you just made it super creepy.”

“You’re welcome,” Finn grinned, and Rey couldn’t help but grin back even though she wanted to be mad. Rose was right, he was a good guy despite his enthusiasms. 

“Ok, where’s the bathroom? I’d like to change like a normal person this time.”

“Over there.”

“Thanks.”

When Rey emerged, now dressed in the black skinny jeans and long-sleeved emerald blouse she’d worn to work that morning, she handed the suit over for Finn to put away.

“Have fun getting that back on the mannequin.”

“Ok, have fun on your date!”

“Text Rose,” Rey ordered, then she turned on her heel, shoes squeaking on the polished floor, and headed for the elevator.

~---~ 

Rey pushed through the doors of Jitters, inhaling the smell of dark roasted caffeine and smiling at the barista as she headed to the table in the back where she and Ben had sat last week. He was already there, gripping his black coffee in one hand while reading something on his laptop. Ben looked up as she drew near, combing his hair out of his face.

“Hey,” Rey said, pulling herself up on the stool across from him. If she felt unusually nervous, she was going to blame it on their almost-fight yesterday, not Finn’s teasing earlier. 

“Hey,” he said, shutting his laptop. “Nice shoes.”

She glanced down to see Rose’s shoes on her feet, which didn't look like super high-tech running shoes with surprisingly excellent arch support, more like gold ankle boots. Not her normal style at all. “Oh, yeah, Finn gave them to me.”

Ben’s eyes clouded for a moment before he blinked and cleared his throat. “I’m glad I caught you before you headed home.”

“Yeah, I’ve been busying catching up with everything in the lab. I’m probably going to have to put in extra hours until I’ve sorted through everything.”

Ben frowned. “Don’t overwork yourself.”

“It’s my first full day back, Ben. Not every day is going to be like this.” She reached out to put a hand on his wrist, which was lying on the tabletop as he gripped his coffee mug. They both jerked away when a spark leapt between them. “Sorry. Static?”

He recovered, taking her hand, almost causing her to flinch this time. His grip was firm. “Static in the middle of summer?” he teased. “I know you shock me a lot but usually not  _literally...”_

“Or maybe residual lightning energy?”

He huffed quietly under his breath. “That works.”

They sat in silence for a moment before they both started, “I’m sorry -”

“You first,” Rey said, always hating the  _who talks first_  bit.

“Sorry I’ve been... smothering you since you woke up. It’s been hard, but I should give you the space to get on with your life.”

“No, I’m sorry for not appreciating what you did for me,” Rey said, leaning forward, squeezing his hand. She tried not to think about how date-like this probably looked right now, grateful that Finn wasn’t around to add ammunition to his arsenal. “I can’t imagine all the things that you had to put on hold while I was in the coma, and just to take care of me.” Rey could swear his cheeks pinked slightly, and she had a sneaking suspicious if she brushed back his dark hair that his ears would be red.

“I’m not a complete monster,” he muttered, lifting one shoulder in a shrug. “Of course I’d help you, Rey.”

She smiled, squeezing once more and letting go before she inadvertently shocked him again, literally or figuratively, especially when she was about to tell him the truth. She swallowed, working up the courage to open her mouth when he continued. 

“Anyway, I have a favor to ask you.”

Rey choked her confession down for the time being. “Sure, what is it?”

“Canady assigned me a story,” Ben said with a frown. “It’s stupid, but have you seen this video?” He pulled up the viral clip Finn had showed them at S.T.A.R. Labs that afternoon. Rey watched it with a sinking feeling.

“Um, yeah, I saw that.”

“Well, Canady wants me to make a story out of it.”

“You sure that isn’t edited?”

“No, several witnesses that I talked to after the shooting said they’d seen a red streak. Someone disarmed the gunman.”

“What makes you think it’s a person?” Rey tried for misdirection, wincing as she dug herself a deeper hole.

Ben didn’t notice as he searched something else on his YouTube app and turned the phone towards her again. “This afternoon, someone posted this.”

Rey found herself watching the shaky footage that the hostage had been taking at the convenience store just a few hours ago. She saw herself, thankfully only silhouetted against the glass doors behind her, her voice distorted by the poor audio quality and the heavy breathing of the person taking the video. She watched as the robber shot at her and she dodged, then quickly subdued the criminal within milliseconds.

Ben pulled his phone back as the video ended, shoving it back in the pocket of his slacks. “So yeah, the Streak is a person. And Canady put me on the story even though I’m not an investigative journalist.”

“The Streak? That’s what you’re calling her?”

Ben’s lips dipped in a puzzled look. “What makes you think it’s a woman?”

Rey fumbled for a moment. “The voice? It didn’t sound deep enough for a man.” She flinched. Now he was going to be listening to the audio on repeat, and there was a good chance that he might recognize her tone and inflections. 

“Huh. I didn’t notice but I think you’re right. The Streak’s figure was also definitely a woman’s.” Ben flipped open his laptop and began typing notes, not noticing how Rey’s cheeks burned. Forget recognizing her voice, now he was going to be staring at grainy images of her  _figure_. She needed a distraction, immediately.

“Ok, but the Streak is a really dumb name.”

Ben looked up with a flat stare. “What does it matter?”

Rey huffed. “It makes her sound like a streaker, like the kind that gets tackled by security for running out on the field naked during half time.”

“I didn’t come up with it,” Ben said, pulling out his phone again to show her the title of the video. “DumbledoresBigToe94 did.”

“Ben, you’re the media. You decide the story that gets told.”

“I’m not all-powerful, Rey. Some things just catch on and that’s it.”

Rey leaned across the table, half getting out of her seat. “Change the name, Ben.”

“Fine.”

“Good.”

“What do you suggest?”

“Me?” 

“I assumed that since you were so passionate about the name you had a few ideas.”

“Oh.” She sat back. “Well, what about the Comet?”

Ben gave her a flat look. “Really?”

Rey threw up her hands. “Sorry that out of the two of us I’m not the creative writers who’s good with words and has handwriting that any high school-aged girl would kill to have.”

Ben snorted. “Yeah, well, that’s definitely true. Your handwriting would make a two-year-old look bad.”

She resisted the urge to stick out her tongue at him. “Surely you can come up with something better than the Streak.” 

“Why bother? It doesn’t matter.”

 “But your writing is practically poetry.”

“You’re biased,” he smirked.

“Shut up. If you can’t think of anything, don’t you have some writer friends who can come up with catchy names?”

“Maybe.”

Rey paused to consider a new angle. “Do you have  _friends,_ Ben? Please tell me you have someone besides me that you’ve been hanging out with while I was unconscious. Socialization doesn’t work if one part is comatose.”

Ben just shook his head and continued typing on his laptop, the click of the keys rapid and rhythmic. Rey waited, watching him work, her elbow propped on the table to cup her chin in her hand. After a minute he looked up.

“What?”

“I’m just surprised you haven’t met someone.”

“I meet people all the time,” he said carefully. “It’s part of my job – interviewing and writing about people.”

Rey smirked, sitting upright. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Maybe I’m just trying to avoid getting sucked down this rabbit hole with you again, Rey,” he took a long draft of his coffee before continuing. “It always ends badly.”

“Please, don’t tell me you actually used me as an excuse to avoid going out and meeting people.”

“Someone had to be there when Luke wasn’t, and my work is less location-specific than his.”

“Oh, no. Not acceptable.”

“What?” Ben said defensively. “You’d rather I just leave you alone in a hospital bed for nine months?”

“I was  _unconscious_ , Ben. I didn’t care. Besides, someone as attractive and eligible as you should not be hiding away during the prime of their youth,” Rey declared.

“Eligible? What is this, a Jane Austen novel?”

“You love Jane Austen. You just need to channel your inner Mr. Darcy and woo someone with your clever words.”

“I’m not good with words. Why do think I avoid people as much as possible?” he said. 

“Ok, speaking – sure, you both could use a little work. But with some practice, you could have the girls falling at your feet.”

“ _Anyway_ , I seem to recall Mr. Darcy screwing up with his words pretty badly,” he continued.

“Ben,” she growled. “You are not bad. You can talk to me just fine.”

He met her eyes then, tearing them away from his laptop where they had been fixed determinedly during the entirety of their conversation. His brown irises were even more serious than usual. “Not really.” He looked away again. “If I could, you’d stop pestering me about this.”

Rey wrinkled her brow in confusion as he steadily avoided her questioning eyes. Finally, she relented, folding her hands on the tabletop. “I have an idea.”

Ben sighed, finishing the last drops of espresso in his mug.

“Ok, so are we doing this?” Rey prodded.

“Doing what? You haven’t told me what your idea is. Although I have a feeling I won’t like it.”

“Karaoke night!”

“Please no,” Ben groaned. 

“Yes,” Rey said, getting to her feet. “We’re going.”

Rey couldn’t help but laugh at his morose expression as she dragged him out of Jitters by the hand to the bar up the street that had karaoke every night. After picking up their drinks at the bar, they claimed a table with a good view of the stage. She considered texting Finn and Rose to see if they would want to join, but she wasn’t sure if it broke some kind of doctor-patient relationship thing to go to a bar together, and anyway, Rose had wanted the night to recuperate. She hoped Finn had remembered to text her.

So it was just the two of them as Ben endured the horrible renditions of pop hits with exaggerated forbearance while Rey cheered each performer who forsook their dignity in exchange for a moment in the spotlight. Rey shifted her chair closer to Ben, after a particularly atrocious performance of Umbrella. When he noticed he looked down at her with his familiar soft smile.

Originally her grand scheme had been to drag him up on the stage so the other patrons could hear his beautiful voice as they sang a duet of  _Summer Lovin’,_ earning him the instant adoration of every female in building and maybe a few of their numbers _._  But now that she was here with him, Rey found she was enjoying this silly inconsequential moment with him, all to herself. There were many reasons she was glad she woke up from the coma – her home with Luke and the Solos next door, her job as a CSI with the CCPD, her new ability to use the speedforce, her recently developed friendships with the people at S.T.A.R. Labs, and maybe most importantly, her quest to get justice for her parents’ death. But right now, she was simply glad to be with Ben.

He seemed to be feeling the same way as he reached out and took her hand again, oblivious to the redhead who’d been approaching and abruptly turned away when she saw their linked fingers. 

_So much for setting him up with a date,_ Rey thought, then shrugged.  _Too bad. He’s all mine tonight_. 

Rey knew it was selfish, but she found that she didn’t care right then. She rather enjoyed the feeling of possessiveness, settling back in her chair with a content smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy early Thanksgiving to my American readers and anyone else who wants in on Turkey Day celebrations!
> 
> Please leave a comment and kudos to let me know what you think! Subscribe for updates - I estimate the next one to come sometime this weekend? Maybe? 
> 
> Thanks for reading :D


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on [tumblr](https://a-nerd-obsessed.tumblr.com)

The rest of Rey’s week went by in a blur, and not because she was running too fast. Between her job at the precinct, her time at S.T.A.R. Labs, and normal human things like eating and sleeping, she found didn’t have much time to spare.  

Right now, though, she was a blur, running to the scene of a fire in an apartment building, the wind tugging at the three buns on the back of her head, her fists pumping back and forth as she sprinted through downtown Cloud City. 

“Alright, Rey,” Finn whispered in her ear piece. “Take a left, then an immediate right.” 

“Got it.” Rey zigzagged around the corners, dodging taxis and public buses. 

“You should see it on your right,” Finn added from his swivel chair back in S.T.A.R. Labs.  

“Oh. Uh, yeah, I see it.” Rey skidded to a halt on the asphalt, staring up at the ten-story apartment building. Smoke was already billowing out the windows of the sixth floor. “Finn, how many units are occupied?” 

“Um, almost all of them. But most people should be gone to work or school since it’s the middle of the day.” 

“Give me the numbers,” Rey said, then zipped through the lobby and up the stairs. At the sixth floor landing, she could feel the heat from above, but she remembered her suit’s heat resistance and sped past, coughing on the smoke pouring from the door leading to the seventh floor, but otherwise no worse for wear. After that, Rey made quick work of carrying the few unlucky residents who had been trapped on the higher levels, depositing them astonished and windblown on the sidewalk before returning to stairwell. 

“Finn, I have to check the sixth floor.” 

“What? Rey, no. If anyone’s still in there, it’s too late.” 

“I can run fast enough that I won’t get burned.” 

“But the people can still get burned,” Finn objected. 

“Better singed than dead,” Rey pointed out. 

“But the suit -” 

“Really? The suit?” 

Suddenly Rose was talking in her ear too. “What about the suit? Who are you talking to, Finn?” 

“Uh, no one.” 

There was a pause. 

“Rey?” 

“Hi, Rose,” Rey said sheepishly. She heard a deep sigh. 

“Where are you?” Rose asked. 

“A fire on Windsor and 58th. The sixth floor is engulfed, and I’m going to see if anyone’s trapped.” 

“Ok, hurry up, then.” 

“What?” 

“Go!” Rose ordered. 

Rey didn’t need to hear it again. She was up the stairs in a blink. Smoke was still pouring out from around the door, so she figured it wouldn’t make things worse to open it. 

The door to first apartment was already charred, but as was the second and third. Fire ate hungrily at the carpet in the hallway, and the smoke was dense enough that she couldn’t get through. 

“Guys, I can’t get through!” Rey shouted.  

“ _Help!”_  

Rey peered through the smoke and shimmering heat waves to see a dim figure at the far end of the hall.  

“There’s someone in there. Guys, what do I do?” Rey asked frantically.  

“Um, is there another stairwell?” Finn asked. “Fire escape?” 

“I don’t have the blueprints! You do!” 

Rose spoke over the commlink, her voice firm. “Rey, there’s no other way in. The fire department only just arrived. You’re going to have to put out the fire yourself.” 

“What? I’m not a firefighter!” Something highly flammable exploded in one of the apartments, probably some cleaning chemicals, and flames belched out into the hallway, forcing Rey to step back. She shouted at the trapped person on the other side of the flames,  _“I’m coming_!” 

“Listen to me,” Rose ordered. “Fire needs oxygen. You take that away, no fire.” 

“I can’t run buckets of water up here and put it out! It’s too big!” 

“No, no. Focus, ok? You need to make a vortex and suck the air out of the hallway.” 

“How?” 

“Spin your arms in front of you at high speed. That’ll create a vortex.” 

“Ok, ok.” Rey braced herself, then began rotate her arms until they blurred, creating cyclones of air. But instead of receding, the fire leapt into the air hungrily. She shrieked, stumbling back. “Rose, it’s not working!” 

“You need to go faster, otherwise you’re just feeding it.” 

“You could have mentioned that earlier!” 

“Focus, Rey.” 

She huffed, then reset herself, starting to spin her arms again, faster than before. Rey closed her eyes against the smoke and heat as it rushed past her, out of the hallway through the vortex she had created. After an initial flare, Rey felt her ears pop as the air was sucked from the space, and then the flames went out, deprived of oxygen.  

“It’s working!” Rey told them, continuing until she was sure that the fire was suppressed. Then quick as a bolt of lightning, she dashed to the end of the hallway and found the person who had been crying for help – a child clutching a well-worn stuffed bunny to his chest. Rey picked him up, cradling him in her arms, and escaped down the stairs before any embers or sparks realized they once again had access to oxygen and came back to life.  

Rey slid to a halt in the chaos on the street below, still clutching the boy who only started crying once they were outside. Actually, it was more like shrieking, and that combined with their sudden appearance soon had everyone staring at them – firefighters and gawkers alike. The others she had rescued from the upper levels began staring and pointing at her excitedly while EMTs tried to tuck blankets over their shoulders and make sure they hadn’t inhaled too much smoke. 

“Devin!” a woman cried, pulling free from the grip of a police officer and running over to them. The boy wailed louder, and Rey took that as a sign that they belonged together. She quickly handed him over to the sobbing woman and tried to take a step back, hoping to vanish, but the woman latched onto her wrist. 

“Thank you!” she said. “Thank you. You saved my son.”  

“Rey, you need to get out of there,” Rose spoke in her ear. 

Rey looked around at the crowds being held back by police officers, at the phones extended and fingers pointed in her direction. And then –  _oh no._  

Ben was at the front of the crowd, not taking pictures or notes (which she really thought he ought to be doing because  _the Streak_ was his assigned story after all), but just staring at her. Her mouth went dry. She was wearing a mask but it was Ben and he knew her and she was staring right back at him and -  

Rey pulled her arm free from the woman’s grateful grasp and began to vibrate, her whole outline blurring to indistinction, disguising her features at least slightly.  

“ _You’re welcome_ ,” Rey said, her voice taking on a strange echoey quality from the vibrations. Then lightning skittered over her body and she was gone, running away from everyone’s sight – especially Ben’s. 

~---~ 

Rey appeared in the cortex in a flurry of movement and collapsed on the floor, limbs sprawled and breathing rapid. Finn started, nearly tipping over his slushie, but Rose reached out a hand to steady it. 

“I think he saw me!”  

“Rey, everyone saw you,” Rose observed pulling up multiple Facebook and Instagram Live feeds, all showing Rey handing Devin over to his hysterical guardian.  

“No, I mean I think Ben recognized me! Why was he even there?” She covered her face with her hands, cringing at the fallout of him discovering her powers like that. 

“The real question we should be asking is why  _you_  were there,” Rose said, coming to stand over her. 

Rey sat up gingerly. In her freak-out about Ben, she had forgotten about Rose's reaction. 

“Um, yeah, about that,” she began. 

“Nope, not your turn,” Rose cut her off. “Finn goes first.” 

Finn looked pleadingly to Rey, not unlike a deer in headlights. If Rey wasn’t quite so afraid of what Rose would do if she spoke before called on, she would have had more pity on the poor man. When she shrugged, he forced himself to meet Rose’s chastising eyes. 

“Sorry?” 

“You used  _my suit_. Without permission!” 

“Technically, Rey used -” 

“Don’t even start with that, Finn! I know it was your idea.” 

He gulped. Rose sighed and put a hand over her eyes. “This is why I need to keep everything locked up. First the Oreos, then my thermal sensors, then  _my suit_  - “ 

 _“_ Sorry, ok? I won’t do it again,” Finn pleaded, clasping his hands together and getting on his knees. Rey thought that was a little overdramatic, but when Rose’s severe expression cracked into a begrudging smile, Rey realized this wasn’t their first argument, not by a long shot. 

“I really shouldn’t let you off so easy,” Rose sighed. “Get up, you dork. You look pitiful.” 

Finn got to his feet, a grin breaking over his face. “That was kind of the idea. I knew that your kind heart couldn’t stay angry at prostrate soul.” 

Rose rolled her eyes. “Please shut up.” 

“Your wish is my command.” 

Rose looked up to the ceiling as if to fortify herself before turning to Rey. “So. Did you mess up my suit?” 

Now it was Rey’s turn to stammer. “No! No. Look, here, you can have it back.” Rey started to take it off right then, starting with the mask and gloves. 

“Whoa, no,” Rose said, halting Rey’s progress. “We stay fully clothed in the cortex.” 

“Right, sorry,” Rey’s cheeks burned. 

“You can keep using it, Rey. I’m not really mad about it. Just, keep me in the loop next time?” 

“Uh, sure. Of course.” 

“I’d also like to be informed prior to any heroic undertakings,” Dr. Rax stated, rolling his wheelchair into the cortex. Finn subtly tried to hide behind Rose. Rey blanched. This day just kept getting better. 

“It seems as though  _the Flash_  is the hero of the day.” Dr. Rax came to a halt, his fingers knitted together in his lap. 

“The what?” Finn piped up.  

“The Flash,” Dr. Rax repeated himself in an odd tone. Rey wasn’t sure if it wasbitterness or maybe resignation that colored his words. “She made headlines just now.” 

“Really?” Finn dashed over to the computer and frantically began typing into the search engine. Rey and Rose crowded up behind him when he clicked on the first search result from the Cloud City Citizen. 

 _THE FLASH STRIKES AGAIN_  

 _“_ Oh, no,” Rey groaned when she saw the byline:  _Benjamin Solo_. 

“This is great!” Finn crowed, already scrolling down to read the article. Rey snatched up her phone from where she’d stashed it on the console earlier. She had four new text messages from Ben. Rey let out a shaky breath, anticipating Ben’s completely understandable and justified outrage upon finding her out. At least he hadn’t tried to call her yet. She steeled herself and tapped the notification. 

 **_Ben_ ** _12:17pm_  

 _So I came up with a name_  

 _Don’t laugh when you see it_  

 _But I saw her today and it just clicked_  

 _You should probably just read the article_  

She clicked on the link Ben had sent, even though it just took her to the same webpage Finn was looking at on the larger display. Rey tuned out Finn and Rose’s commentary as she read through the report herself, sighing in relief when she found no indication that Ben had recognized her. Instead, it was a brief, detailed report of the fire with a few quotes from eyewitnesses, including some of the people she had rescued from the building. All throughout, he referred to her as  _The Flash,_ which gave her a slightly giddy feeling. 

 **_Rey_ ** _12:49pm_  

 _I like it_  

Rey locked her phone with a smile and looked up to find Dr. Rax’s eyes on her. Her face reddened and she opened her mouth to begin her apologies, but he held up a hand.  

“I know you too well to have expected anything else. It seems that it was inevitable that you would take action. I also suspect any apologies will likely be insincere, so I won’t ask for any.” 

The three waited in silence as Dr. Rax paused, seemingly lost in thought.  

“We will begin your training tomorrow. In the meantime, Finn has finished the analysis of the evidence from our possible metahuman attack.” He looked to Finn. Finn startled at the sudden attention, and moved from behind Rose.  

“Um, yes. Yes, I did. Let me just pull up the results.” He leaned forward to reach the computer again, this time searching through the S.T.A.R. Labs database for his test results.  

“I think we can say for sure that it was another metahuman. I compared to the DNA of the hair found at the scene to yours, Rey, and found some of the same mutations that show up in your DNA. Of course, dark matter is tricky, and when you combine that with genetics it’s really hard to tell how this meta was affected.” 

“But,” Rose said, “based on the evidence at the crime scene, we can conclude that this metahuman must be able to control temperature to some degree, or maybe suck up heat energy so that things freeze? Hard to say exactly how his or her powers work without actually seeing it.” 

“It’s almost like they projected or blasted cold onto the victim. That guy’s face was instantly frozen – he didn’t even have time to blink or scream.” 

Finn gulped. “Ok then, I’m going to buy a bigger lock for my door tonight.” 

“They could probably just freeze it off,” Rey said. 

“Wow, so not helpful.” 

Rey’s phone buzzed, and she glanced at the screen. 

 **_Ben_ ** _12:57pm_  

 _Coffee later?_  

“Anyway,” Rose continued. “I’ve recalibrated the S.T.A.R. Labs satellite to give us a ping if there are any unusual temperature fluctuations around the city.” 

“What, the satellite can do that?” Rey asked. 

“It’s a very high-tech satellite,” Rose answered. 

“This is great. Thank you all so much for your help – just, how do I explain to my boss that I think there’s someone who can freeze people to death wandering around Cloud City?” 

“I wouldn’t,” Dr. Rax advised. “That will draw unwanted attention to yourself, which is less than ideal given your alter ego is already gaining something of a spotlight.” 

Rey was more worried about someone saying that the lightning strike had completely fried her brain cells – which, maybe it kind of had, but not like that. Either way, she agreed that she didn’t want to have to convince others of the existence of metahumans quite yet. 

“We’ll help you track down this meta using our resources here,” Dr. Rax instructed. “Now, understand that this, along with beginning your training, is done in trust that you will not try to take on anything more than you have already attempted. Definitely no metahumans.” 

“Yes, sir,” Rey said. 

“Alright,” Dr. Rax said, wheeling out of the room. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

“You two got off really easy,” Rose said when he was gone. “Probably because he knew you weren’t going to listen anyway.” 

“If he knew, why’d he even try?” Rey queried. 

“Dr. Rax knows everything,” Finn responded. “It’s honestly kind of creepy sometimes. He’ll just glide up to you in that chair and talk really low and -” 

“Oh, come on, Finn. You’ve been watching too many horror movies late at night again,” Rose scoffed. 

“When else am I supposed to watch them? It’s not like I have a lot of free time, you know.” 

“Yeah, because you were using my suit behind my back.” 

“I said sorry! What more do you want from me?” Finn almost wailed. 

“Repentance,” Rose snapped. 

“Oh.” 

“Anyway,” Rose continued, not bothering to meet Finn’s mournful gaze, “you should probably respond to that text. Did your boyfriend figure out your secret identity?” 

“I’ve told you, Ben’s not my boyfriend. And no, he didn’t recognize me, and no, I don’t have a secret identity. It’s more like... a hidden identity.” 

Rose gave her a flat stare. “That’s literally the same thing.” 

“No, it’s not. One’s more like I’m keeping it from him, the other’s like he just can’t see it. There’s a difference,” Rey protested. 

“I can agree with that,” Finn said helpfully. 

“Sure. If it makes you feel better,” Rose dismissed.  

“It does, thank you,” Rey said, eyes turned down to tap out a reply to Ben. 

 **_Rey_ ** _1:10pm_  

 _I have to finish up a few things at S.T.A.R. Labs. Jitters at 4:30?_  

She looked up to see Rose still staring at her. “What?” 

“Just observing.” Rose turned away. Rey glanced down again. 

 **_Ben_ ** _1:12pm_  

 _Perfect_  

~---~ 

“Sorry I’m late!” Rey panted as she dumped her bag on the seat across from Ben. “I’ll be right back.” 

She placed her order – a frozen mocha with extra whip, because she was feeling it – then returned to the table where Ben sat patiently, quietly typing on his laptop. 

“Sorry about that,” Rey repeated. “I had to return some evidence from S.T.A.R. Labs to the precinct, and it took longer than I planned to get everything checked in.” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Ben said, scooting his laptop to the side. “Gave me time to make some edits on an article.” 

“Another article... about  _The Flash_?” Rey grinned teasingly. 

“I thought you weren’t going to make fun of the name,” Ben grumbled. 

“I’m not!” Rey hastened to assure him. “I really do like it. Very catchy and stylish.” 

Ben snorted. “Well I’m glad I have your stamp of approval.” 

“You’re welcome.” 

The barista came over with her mocha. Rey took it with a thanks and stuck a finger in the extra whipped cream bursting from the top of the dome lid and licked it off with relish. Ben watched with a sweet crinkle around his eyes, and Rey smiled back.  

“So, why’d you want to meet up?” she inquired, poking her straw into the frothy drink. 

“Just because,” he said, his eyes still on her. 

“Ben Solo, we all know you don’t like people. And, although your dislike for me is slightly less than for the majority of the human population, you wouldn’t want to hang out with even me ‘just because.’ You’d rather lock yourself in your apartment with a good book and I’d have to bust down the door to find you.” 

“Normally, that would probablybe accurate,” Ben admitted. “But not today.” 

“Hmm.” Her eyes softened. She realized he probably still missed her, even though it had been almost two weeks since she’d woken up from the coma. 

“Don’t give me that look.” 

“You’re turning soft and sentimental in your old age,” Rey decided, scooping up some of the whipped cream with the straw and sucking it off. 

“Maybe.” He took a sip of his own drink, the mug he clutched appearing almost miniature in his big hands.  

Rey let her eyes wander through the coffee shop as she sipped on her drink. Ben hadn’t sat at one of their usual spots in the back corner, out of the main traffic flow and away from the distracting window views, even though there were some nice open tables tucked away beyond the register. In fact, this is the exact opposite of his usual preferences: right up against the window, where you could see and been seen by every passerby and so close to the door it was a wonder she didn’t get bludgeoned when it flew open to admit another desperate addict in need of a caffeine fix. Rey narrowed her eyes, looking back to Ben as his eyes scanned the street outside. 

“You’re watching for the Flash, aren’t you?” 

Ben’s gaze shot back to hers, appearing slightly guilty. “Yes.” 

Rey leaned forward. “What makes you think she’s just going to appear in front of you?” 

“She did earlier today.” He sipped his espresso again, eyes fixed on the window. 

Rey sat back. “You’re enjoying this.” 

“What?” 

“You’re enjoying this assignment. The stupid assignment that Canady shoved on you even though you’re not an investigative journalist. You. Love it.” 

“Love seems like a strong word.” 

Rey grinned. “Heaven forbid Ben Solo actually has some fun doing his job. That shouldn’t be allowed.” 

“I think your sarcasm is a little thick.” 

“Shut up. You’re having fun.” 

“Fine, yes. I do like writing about the Flash.” 

Rey was about to tease him more when she suddenly remembered that she  _was_ the Flash. Not that she’d forgotten, but it hit her that he was excited to be writing about  _her_ and that he was waiting here on the off chance that she would run by the window at Jitters, but the whole time she was  _right there_. She sucked up the last bit of mocha from the bottom of the cup. 

“I’m glad,” Rey finished lamely. If he seemed perturbed by the way she dropped the subject like a hot potato, he didn’t show it. Ben hesitated before speaking again, his eyes avoiding her face. She braced herself, knowing whatever could make him nervous must be something significant.

“Did it – did it ever occur to you how the Flash is kind of like what you said killed your parents?” he asked quietly, his eyes darting up to check her expression.

Rey felt pinned in place. Yes, it obviously had occurred to her. But Rey knew for a definite fact that she had not killed her parents. She strongly suspected it was someone  _like_ her, even if she didn’t understand how that could be possible. 

But also, Ben believed her. They’d always avoided talking about her parents’ death for obvious reasons. Rey never had confirmation before that he believed her story of the man in yellow, the whirlwind of lightning. He was excited about this story, about the Flash, because of her.

She should tell him. Tell him everything right now.

“I’m sorry, Rey. I didn’t mean to bring that up and upset you. I just thought – I don’t know. I don’t know what I thought.”

She reached out and touched his hand. “It’s ok, Ben.”

Her phone buzzed.

 **_Rose Tico_ ** _5:12pm_  

 _Carjacking. Are you available?_  

Rey almost groaned aloud.

 **_Rey_ ** _5:12pm_  

 _Yes give me a sec_  

 _“_ I’ve got to go,” Rey said. “Something came up at S.T.A.R. Labs.” 

“S.T.A.R. Labs again? I thought you were fine.” 

“Oh, it’s not about that,” Rey said, picking up her bag. “They’re, uh, helping me with some of my cases. Running tests and stuff.” 

“I see.” 

“Catch you later?” 

Ben murmured an agreement as she dashed out of Jitters. She cut into the nearest alley, stuffing her bag in a corner before changing into the crimson suit in a whirlwind of lightning.  

“Finn?” She whispered in the earpiece.  

“Yup.” 

“Where to?” 

“Imperial and Nelson, heading east.” 

“Got it.”  

Rey jetted off, zipping into the street. She couldn’t help but run back past Jitters, even though it would have been more direct to take a different route. It would only add a split millisecond to her time anyway. And she couldn’t help but enjoy Ben’s stunned face as she whizzed by in a blur of red and lightning, even though she also felt guilty. She really needed to tell him or this would blow up in her face – badly.  

The carjacking was relatively easy to take care of with two genius-level brains talking in her ear – just open the car door of the BMW by vibrating the handle until the lock gave way as she ran along beside it, snatch the man driving the SUV from behind the wheel and deposit him in the back seat of one of the trailing police cruisers, return to the still moving vehicle in the blink of an eye, and bring it to an abrupt halt just before the red light at Kingsway. 

Soon she was heading back toward downtown, trailing crackling bolts of yellow lightning. It was almost six o’ clock but the sun wouldn’t set for another three hours. 

“Hey, Rose, Finn, is it alright if I keep the suit overnight? I think I’m going to do a few more things at the precinct before I head home.” 

“Fine,” Rose’s voice came through her earpiece. “Just don’t lose my suit.” 

“I won’t, I swear.” 

“Nice job out there,” Finn said. “S.T.A.R. Labs out.” 

Rey grinned into the wind as she swerved around a bus. “Flash out.” She ducked back into the alleyway nearby Jitters, her boots sparking as she skidded to a stop. Rey found her satchel and quickly switched into her street clothes **,** stuffing the suit into the bagbefore making her way to the precinct.  

As Rey stepped off the elevator, Luke was taking to a couple other detectives, but when he saw her, he made his way over to her. 

“Where you been, stranger?” he demanded with a fake scowl. Rey grimaced. All week she’d only seen Luke in passing, either grabbing a Clif bar to go in the kitchen at home or when she was discussing evidence with one of the other officers. 

“Sorry. I’ve been busy with everything.” 

“Hmm, yes. Care to define ‘everything?’” His piercing blue eyes stared at her and she gulped.  _Does he know?_  

But no, there was no way. “You know, getting up to speed with all the active cases, working with the team at S.T.A.R. Labs, hanging out with Ben.” 

“With Ben, huh?” Luke inquired. 

“Don’t even start,” Rey snapped, getting enough of  _that_  from her friends at S.T.A.R. Labs. She didn’t need Luke to start up too. 

“What? Oh, no, I didn’t mean like that,” Luke assured her. He looked almost more horrified than she did at the idea of them doing something more significant than  _hanging out._  Actually, he probably was because some traitorous part of her was most definitely not horrified at the idea and when on earth had that happened -  

 _What the hell? Nope. Stop it,_ she told herself before returning to the present. 

“You even skipped out on me when I had Thai takeout. Thai! You love Thai,” Luke groused. 

“I know. I’m sorry.” 

“Eh, don’t worry about it, kid,” Luke said. “I’m just glad to have you around is all. I will have to talk to Ben about hogging all your free time though.” 

“He’s really not,” Rey admitted. “I’ve being doing a lot of work.” 

“Mmm hmm,” Luke said, his gaze sharpening again. “It seems like with this new Flash person we won’t have as much work trying to put the bad guys away. You might end up having more free time. Did you hear she stopped a carjacker just now?” 

“Oh, really?” Rey voice was a tad higher than normal, and she desperately hoped Luke didn’t notice. “I didn't know about that.” 

“Just happened. Like ten minutes ago, really.” 

“Wow, that’s neat.” 

“Yup,” Luke agreed. “Neat.” 

Rey shifted her weight. “Well, ok, I’m going to head up to the lab. I’ll probably be home late.” 

“Alright. Stay safe. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” 

“Ok, bye!” 

Rey took the stairs two at a time, not caring if she looked guilty. Luke was laying down some pretty strong hints, and it was making her nervous. There was no way he could know.  _Right?_  

She collapsed at her desk in the lab, kicking out her feet and spinning around. Boxes of evidence and shelves of chemicals whirled around her until she stopped herself abruptly. Her crime board had been covered up, hidden behind another pull-down screen with notes from a few other cases taped on. Rey rose to her feet and stepped forward, tugging the string to roll up the first board and reveal the one of her parents’ murder. It was the same as when she’d last looked at it. Nothing new had been added, no progress had made – it was the same as it had been for years. Rey felt herself deflate. The only thing that had changed was herself, the only shred of a lead she had was her own powers, proving that it wasn’t completely impossible that she had really seen the man in yellow, surrounded by lightning, in her house that night.  

But it was still impossible, because her powers came from the particle accelerator’s failure, which hadn’t even happened a year ago. 

“Focus, Allen.” Rey turned away before the prickle in the corner of her eyes grew into something more. “You’ve got work to do.” 

For the next three hours, Rey sped around her lab, performing analyses and writing reports, making a good dent into the work that had piled up in her absence as well as the multiple boxes of Chinese takeout that she’d had delivered.  

She woke up with a jerk, her head lying on her desk, the keyboard and a few piles of paper pushed off to the side. It was completely dark outside now, and she had a few missed calls from Luke. Rey groaned, pushing herself to her feet. She would definitely not be recommending that position for anyone looking to get a restful night’s sleep.  

Rey wandered over to the wall of windows that made up the exterior of her lab facing the street. She glanced down, seeing that the street in front of the precinct was still crowded even though it was almost midnight. The yellow glow generated by headlights and store fronts reflected off the glass of the buildings to either side, reaching up into the dark sky. Blinking at the bright light, Rey turned to look directly across at the roof of the apartments facing the precinct. 

And blinked again. 

But he was still there: A man, all in yellow, seeming to be staring straight at her. And then he was gone in a streak of red lightning. 

Rey didn’t even pause to think, dashing through the police station onto the street, racing in the direction the man in yellow had gone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that took so long! Thanksgiving kind of threw everything off. This chapter's a little bit longer to make up for it, maybe?
> 
> Anyway, I expect I can update Friday or Saturday again. Obviously this story's nowhere close to being done in time for Nanowrimo. I'll still keep scribbling away, although maybe updated as quickly because I have my other fic that needs a lot more attention and I have an exchange fic that I need to start. But never fear! I fully intend to finish this!
> 
> Kudos, comments, and reblogs on [tumblr](https://a-nerd-obsessed.tumblr.com) are the world! Thanks for reading!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I had to change a bit of Ben and Rey's conversation at Jitters in the last chapter because I left something out. If you're following along as this updates, you may want to go back and read it just so everything makes sense. Lesson learned: stick with your outline, kids!
> 
> Find me on [tumblr](https://a-nerd-obsessed.tumblr.com)

Rey caught a glimpse of the tail of his red lightning disappearing around a corner, and she followed, pushing herself to go even faster. 

The chase led all through Cloud City, weaving around city blocks at random, almost as though they were playing a high-speed game of tag. 

The man in yellow finally came to a halt in stadium where Rey had watched the Cloud City Speedsters play from the stands only nine months ago. Furious, Rey was tempted to ram into the man, but she knew he would just dodge her.

“Who are you?” she shouted, her fist clenched as she took a step forward. The man didn’t respond, facing her as he vibrated subtly, blurring his features even though they were concealed by a mask not unlike her own. His silence made her angry.

“Why are you here?” she demanded. 

She was not prepared when he spoke, almost not imagining he would dissolve like a ghost, to be merely a figment of her imagination. It was deep, menacing, reverberating.

“ _I always find you, Flash_.”

_What the actual -_

Rey launched herself at him just as he leapt forward. Lightning clashed with lightning, right over the midline of the field, sending out a crackling burst of red and yellow energy. But only one force kept on its original trajectory, throwing Rey back as pain shot through her abdomen. She rolled across the grass, stopping as she gasped for breath. She scrambled to her feet, locking eyes on the yellow speedster who waited until she was upright to zoom towards her again.

Rey was fast, she knew. Faster than anyone else alive, now able to a mile in three seconds. But somehow this man was even faster, just by a fraction of a millisecond. She was unable to just dodge or counter his strikes as he pummeled her, not even giving her the chance to reel away before he came back for another blow. 

When he finally allowed her to collapse, she curled in on herself, desperately hoping that this was all a horrible dream and she was still asleep in her lab, even as all her senses screamed at her that this was real.

“ _You never win, Flash. Remember that."_

A snap of lightning and a gust of wind, and the man was gone. 

Rey didn’t move for a few minutes, unwilling to do anything even as she felt her body heal itself, the blood dripping from her nose stopping and the ache in her ribs fading.

It was a dog’s bark, echoing off the empty seats, that finally roused her. She sat up gingerly, noticing for the first time the tears drying on her cheeks.

Rey felt like a fool. And not just because she’d had her ass handed to her. She’d been on a high for the past week – exploring her new powers as a hero, getting back into her CSI job, making new friends at S.T.A.R. Labs, spending time with Ben. But now she had been literally been forced to face the specter that was always hanging over her life. Rey felt small again, like the girl who’d watched her parents be killed, who had been ignored and discredited when she told anyone what she’d seen, who’d had those whispers follow her all the way through college. She felt alone.

 _You’re not that little girl anymore, Allen. Pull yourself together_.

And Rey knew she wasn’t alone. She had to go find Ben and tell him everything like she should have done weeks ago. He would understand, and he would know what to do.

Rey got to her feet, a little shakily. She almost hesitated to use her speed after that beatdown, even though the energy tingled in her fingertips, calling to her. 

Then Rey realized it was too late for the buses to be running and she’d left her phone at the lab so she couldn’t get an Uber. Ben’s apartment was on the other side of the city, and schlepping it across town like a normal person at midnight did not sound appealing.

Rey ran through the streets, some dark and lit only with neon, others wide and full of yellow streetlights. It felt very different than running through the city during the day: everything seemed more distant, muted and dim. Still, she felt wary, a part of her afraid that the man in yellow would jump out of a side street and finish what he’d started.

She was sprinting through downtown when she hit the patch of black ice, losing her traction and tumbling across the pavement. Thankfully Rey managed to scramble to her feet and get out of the street before she was run over. She didn’t know how her super healing would take to being run over by a delivery truck, but she didn’t want to find out. 

Rey sat on the fortunately empty sidewalk, leaning against the base of a column to catch her breath as she stared at the street.

It made no sense. How could there be black ice? It was the middle of summer, and even though it was night, it was still warm outside, well above freezing. Now that she was closer to the ground, Rey could see the huge slick patch on the asphalt, reflecting the glare from the headlights of the occasional vehicle rumbling by. She leaned her head back, staring up into the black sky, all the stars drowned out by light pollution, partially blocked out by the Cloud City Bank’s portico overhead. 

Rey jumped to her feet, turning to stare at the grand entrance behind her. The bank was dark and silent, closed earlier that evening. She glanced back out at the odd patch of ice, then at the ostentatious glass doors reflecting the street so she couldn’t see inside. The speedforce crackled around her, and then she was gone, circling the perimeter of the building.

It was the fourth entrance she tried, swinging open when she tried to push it open. The lock had been frozen so that it was shattered on the ground, the shards of metal steaming in the warm night air. Rey went inside.

It took her eyes a fraction of a second to adjust to the dark, only the emergency lights illuminating the hallway. She crept forward, finding herself walking through a series of luxurious offices. The banker she found on the floor must have been working late, and heard the guard lying a few yards further on confronting someone out in the hallway. She could already tell the guard had been frozen, similar the thug they’d found in an alleyway last week. But maybe the banker had only been knocked out.

But that was not the case as Rey found out when she attempted to roll him over. She let out an involuntary shriek when she saw the charred remains of the man’s front, choking down her gag reflex.

Her fists clenched, lightning flashing in her eyes. No one else was going to die tonight. 

Rey dashed through the building, following the trail of damage to the vault, where she finally met the first metahuman besides herself.

Actually, two metahumans.

“Hello, Flash.” 

A tall woman with icy blonde hair stood over three more guards, huddled together on the floor with fearful expressions. She was dressed in black slacks with a slate blue blazer, her stilettos making her even taller. She could have been another banking executive if not for the dangerously sharp icicles in her hands and her menacing stance over the hostages. Rey immediately began to vibrate, disguising herself like she had with Ben earlier that day.

“What?” A thin man with flaming red hair stuck his head out of the vault, noticing Rey with disgust. “Ugh. What’s she doing here?”

“Hux, be nice. And hurry up. I don’t have all night.”

“But Phasma, shouldn’t we -”

_Phasma?_

Rey didn’t have time to dwell on the name as the woman turned away from the hostages, arms crossed, her cold blue eyes flashing. “Hux.”

Hux scowled but ducked back inside the vault, Rey assumed to finish stealing whatever valuables were stored in the security boxes there. 

“I’m honored you’d come to our heist, Flash,” Phasma said, her eyes scanning Rey’s blurry form, “although I expected you to be wearing something a little more... flashy.”

Rey ignored that, knowing her suit with its handy communication device linked to S.T.A.R. Labs was back at the precinct. “You need to let those men go,” Rey ordered.

“I also expected you to be taller. Everyone seems to be shorter in real life,” Phasma mused. Rey restrained herself from pointing out that the woman was exceptionally tall and maybe that was why Rey seemed short – which she wasn’t.

“You need to let them go,” Rey repeated.

“Still stuck on that, are we?” Phasma sighed. “I’m not going to kill them if that’s what you’re worried about. I assume you found the two upstairs?” She read the confirmation in the way Rey’s body tensed. “That was an accident. Hux got a little hot-headed. Speaking of which -  _Hux_!”

“What?”

“You better not be lighting any fires.”

“I’m coming.” Hux emerged, his lanky frame loaded down with bulging rucksacks. “Why do I always have to carry everything?”

“Because the Flash here is worried that if you were left alone with the hostages, you tried to burn off their faces.”

A flicker of flame ran up his arms to his elbows as Rey’s eyes widened. “I’d be more worried about your face,” Hux muttered, barely audible.

“What was that?” Phasma asked with deadly calm.

“I’d be more worried about her face,” he said, louder.

“Hmm, yes,” Phasma said. “I’d rather you not do that, just yet.”

Rey was tired of their bickering. With snap of lightning she whisked the guards away, depositing them in lobby before returning to the vault and triggering the silent alarm, all before the two metahumans could properly flinch. 

“Why you little -“ Hux dropped the bags and took a step towards her, his hands bursting into flame.

“Hux!” Phasma said, her voice sharp.

“What?”

“No fires! We want this bank still standing for us to rob the next time.”

“Fine,” he ground out, clenching his fists and extinguishing the flames.

“Now, Flash,” Phasma started. Rey turned her attention back to the tall woman, which was a mistake. 

A ball of fire flew towards her from Hux’s hand. Rey dodged with a shriek and the fire splattered against the wall, triggering the sprinklers. Water rained down on them as the fire alarm began blaring. Rey was disoriented for a split second, but it was enough time for Phasma to thrust out her hands, blasting a wave of ice over Rey, freezing her like a human icicle as the air and water around her turned solid.

“Hux, let’s go. Police should be here in, hmm, two minutes and thirty-seven seconds.”

“Phasma, we should finish her off.” Flames flickered over his skin. Rey briefly wondered why his dark gray button-up didn’t burn off, but figured she should be grateful.

“You’ve done enough,” Phasma snapped, her breath frosting the air. “We’re leaving.”

Hux grumbled but picked up the bags.

“See you around,  _Flash.”_ A gustof cold wind followed the odd pair out the door.

Rey was panicking. Forget that Phasma and Hux, two extremely powerful metahumans, getting away, she was  _stuck._

Rey supposed the only reason she hadn’t been iced in the most permanent definition of the word was because her body’s metabolism was supporting her internal temperature so that her organs didn’t shut down. But the air around her had been turned solid and Rey didn’t know the exact temperature of frozen air but she knew that was  _cold_. 

She had no backup, no voices in her ear to tell her what to do. She was still alone. This was turning out to be an all-around shitty night. 

But rather than feeling despair, like she had after her encounter with the man in yellow, Rey was angry. She would figure out the mystery of her parents’ murder, and first, she would figure this out.

 _Ok, ok,_ she thought.  _Think about this logically. Cold is simply a lack of heat. Heat is energy. You have the_ _speedforce_ _, which is energy, but you need to move to access it. You can’t_ _move... but you can vibrate._

Rey began to vibrate, slow at first, but faster as she warmed up. The air around her began to warm up too, dissipating into steam until she was free, stumbling forward. 

The alarms were still blaring as she dashed out of the vault and into the street. There was no sign of Hux or Phasma, except the slick of black ice still covering the road. Police cars appeared, swerving as they hit the slippery patch before skidding to a halt. But Rey was already gone, running off into the night.

~---~

When Finn and Rose walked into the cortex at S.T.A.R. Labs, they found Rey asleep in one of the chairs.

“How did you get in here?” Rose demanded.

“Good morning, Rose,” Rey mumbled. She stretched out the stiffness in her joints before dropping her head in her hands, elbows propped on her knees.

“Wow, be nice Rose. It’s too early to turn up the grouchy already,” Finn admonished. “And I mean that in the most loving – I mean, kindest way possible.”

“Whatever. It’s a security breach. We should know how she got in.”

Rey sighed, cupping her chin in her hand. “I’m the Flash. Besides, I feel like I really should have a keycard at this point.”

“Hmph,” Rose grunted, unconvinced. 

“Wow.” Finn noticed the circles under Rey’s eyes. “You look... awful.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“No, really, are you ok?” Finn pushed.

“He’s right,” Rose said, setting down her backpack. “You do look terrible. Did you spend the night here?”

“Half of it, anyway.” Rey slumped back in the seat.

“Did something happen?” Finn asked, then he gasped. “Did you and Ben have a fight?”

“Seriously?” Rey snorted. “First off, we are not that cliché. And second,  _we are not together_.”

“Right, right, sorry.” Finn backed off.

“What happened?” Rose asked.

“Well, I found our metahuman.”

“Really?” Finn was gleeful.

“Have you not seen the news?”

“It’s 6am and I woke up half an hour ago, so no,” Finn retorted.

“Well, I also know who it is.” Rey tapped the computer screen, which had gone black since she’d fallen asleep. “Meet Gwen Phasma, my high school tormentor.”

“What, really?” Finn exclaimed, staring at the mug shot of the blonde woman who looked into the camera with a cool, amused look in her blue eyes.

“Yup. Bane of my existence for two years at Cloud City North High School. Now back and better than ever with awesome ice powers.”

“That’s insane!”

“It sucks.”

“Who’s this guy?” Rose inquired, pointing to the other mug shot.

“Her partner in crime, apparently. Armie Hux. Guess what he can do?”

“He’s a meta too?” Finn blurted.

“Yup, and he can control fire.”

“That. Is awesome.”

“No, it’s not,” Rey shouted already fed up, while Rose shook her head. “Two more people died last night! One was literally iced while the other was turned into a crisp! When are you going to take this seriously?”

Rey stood, shoving her chair back and stomping away into the exam room off the cortex, leaving Finn stunned. Rose just sighed and followed her into the adjacent room.

“I’m sorry, Rey, about last night.”

Rey picked up a tongue depressor from a jar on a shelf and started fiddling with it.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.”

“I’m glad you’re ok, and I’m sorry we weren’t there to back you up.”

Rey sighed and turned to face Rose. “You know about my parents, yeah?”

Rose nodded.

“You know about my crazy story? About the man in yellow?”

“It was in the case file.”

Rey looked down at her hands. She wasn’t surprised that they’d read the reports.

“I saw him last night. Before the attack at the bank.”

“You... saw him?”

“Yes. Well, more than saw him. I fought with him.”

“You  _what?”_

 _“_ I fought him. I saw him outside the precinct and I just chased him. He kicked my ass,” Rey explained.

“Rey, what were you thinking? He could have killed you!”

“I wasn’t really thinking.”

“I know you can handle yourself, Rey. You’ve been proving yourself ever since you came out of that coma – but this man killed your parents.” Rose’s voice was almost pleading.

“I know,” Rey said softly.

“He is definitely capable of killing you. Maybe, maybe, he was even trying to kill you that night.”

Rey looked up sharply. “What?”

“Maybe he was really trying to kill you. You said one minute you were at the house, and the next you were out in the street, right? Maybe he got angry that you’d escaped, so he killed your parents instead.”

Rey sat down, her eyes glazed over. She’d never thought of that before, because before she’d had no reason to suspect that anyone would have any motive to kill her. But if the man in yellow knew who she was, what she’d become – and he  _had_ called her the Flash tonight. He’d said that he always found her, that she would never win. Did that mean her parents’ death was her fault?

“Rey? Rey? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say all that. Shit, here I am running off at the mouth like Finn.”

“No,” Rey breathed. “I think you’re right.” She jumped to her feet, taking Rose’s hands. “He knew my name, Rose. And not just like he’d read Ben’s article in the paper. He  _knew_ me, Rose. Like we’d done this before, like he expected that we’d do this again. He said to remember that he’d always find me and that I never win.”

“He sounds like an arch enemy,” Finn said from the doorway. Both girls turned at his voice and he shrank back. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to listen in. I’ll go.”

“No, stay.” Rey stepped towards him. “I’m sorry I overreacted.”

Finn shrugged. “It’s fine. I need to keep my big mouth shut.”

“But you both don’t think I’m crazy?”

“No,” they answered at the same time.

“But he’s not an arch enemy,” Rose said. “That sounds a little dramatic.”

“But did you hear what Rey said he told her? That guy is hella dramatic.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “Sounds like you two have something in common.”

“Excuse me, I’m not a bad guy.”

“Whatever.” Rose turned back to Rey. “Now, Rey, I believe you, but are you  _sure_  it was the same man that killed your parents?”

“Who else do we know who’s a speedster dressed in yellow with red lightning?”

“Wait, a yellow suit with red lightning? It’s almost like he’s your reverse... oh, wait a second... yes! The Reverse Flash!”

Both girls stared at him as he grinned.

“Come on! Is that not a cool name? Perfect for her arch enemy!”

“I’m so sorry,” Rose said to Rey, putting a hand over face. 

“It’s better than the man in yellow,” Rey admitted.

“A lot better,” Finn added.

“Sure, ok, let’s focus,” Rose redirected. “We now have three metas on the loose, all three murderers. What are we going to do?”

“What are we going to do about what?”

Rey jumped when Dr. Rax spoke behind her, appearing from a side door she hadn’t noticed before. 

“Rey encountered some metas last night. Gwen Phasma, Armie Hux, and the Reverse Flash,” Rose summarized.

“Just give me a minute and I’ll come up with better names for Phasma and Hux,” Finn said. 

“Three? I thought we only knew of one,” Dr. Rax said.

“Two of them robbed a bank together. Phasma is the cold meta, and her partner is Hux, who apparently can generate heat in the form of fire,” Rey said.

“Heatwave!” Finn interjected, although no one paid him attention. “Two down, one to go.”

“And the Reverse Flash?” Dr. Rax asked with a strangely neutral look on his face.

“The Reverse Flash is the yellow speedster that killed Rey’s parents,” Rose finished quietly.

“Ah. I see.” He rolled his chair closer to join their circle. “Are you alright, Rey?”

“I’m fine now,” she answered.

“Excellent.” He folded his hands together. “Today we need to plan our strategy to find and capture Phasma and Hux as well as commence your training.”

“What about the Reverse Flash?” Rey demanded.

“It seems,” Dr. Rax said with an enigmatic smile, “that he intends to find you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey! What did you think?
> 
> I honestly don't know when the next update will come, but it should be within a week. My schedule's going to be a bit wonky although I should have time to write.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who's reading and commenting and kudo'ing (yes I just made that a verb). You're amazing!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on [tumblr](https://a-nerd-obsessed.tumblr.com)

A hurricane of paper blew into the air as Rey skidded into the cortex in a flurry of yellow lightning. 

“That’s my Flash!” Finn shouted, jumping to his feet and extending his hand over the computer screens towards Rey. “High-five!” 

Rey answered enthusiastically, clapping their hands together so that a resounding smack rang through the room.  

“Nice job,” Rose agreed. “Rescuing a school bus full of kids is like something out of a comic book.” 

“Damn right!” Finn cheered. “This calls for a team selfie.” 

“Yes,” Rey said, reaching for Rose’s phone lying in front of the screens. “Everyone, get together over there. I have an idea.” 

“What’s happening?” Dr. Rax asked, rolling into the cortex in his chair. 

“Stand over there with Rose and Finn,” Rey directed with a giddy smile. “We’re taking a picture!” 

“What’s the occasion?” 

“Team selfie,” Rose explained, moving to Finn’s side. 

Dr. Rax let out a forbearing sigh as he joined Finn and Rose. “If I’m not mistaken, isn’t the photographer of a selfie usually in the picture that is being taken?” 

“Yup,” Rey said. “Just wait for it. Finn, move a little closer to Rose – perfect. Okay, smile, everyone!” 

“Super selfie!” Finn grinned, placing a not-so-stealthy arm around Rose. Rey held up Rose’s phone and tapped the screen. Then she jumped to Flashtime, everything slowing to a standstill as she zipped around to stand by her friends as the phone, still suspended in midair, took the picture. Just as quickly, she raced back and snatched the phone before it even began to fall.  

“How’d it turn out?” Finn asked.  

“Great,” Rey answered, swiping back to check the image for blurriness or blinking eyes. She smiled at the range of enthusiasm on each of their faces.  

“Thanks for not dropping my phone,” Rose huffed, holding out a hand. “I don’t need any more cracks in the screen than what Finn’s contributed.” 

“I said I’ll buy you a new one,” Finn whined as Rey handed over the cracked phone. 

“No. It reminds me of you,” Rose returned as she inspected their super selfie.  

“That’s a good thing, right?” 

“I suppose,” Rose allowed. Finn beamed and Rey gave him a thumbs-up. 

“How was today’s training, Rey?” Dr. Rax inquired, folding his hands across his lap. 

“Oh, uh, it’s great,” Rey stammered. “Um, actually, I haven’t finished.” 

“I see.” 

“We were interrupted, sir,” Rose interjected. “We picked up a call about a school bus on a bridge and we thought the Flash should go help out.” 

“I understand,” Dr. Rax replied. “But you must remember that your training is important, Rey. It is imperative that you get faster. The Flash does not have to intervene in every crime in the city. That’s why we have a police department.” 

Rey frowned. She didn’t like feeling like a guilty preschooler caught in the cookie jar. “Yes, sir.” 

“She has been getting faster though,” Finn added. “She broke five hundred miles per hour today on the Cosmic Treadmill.” 

Everyone turned and looked at him. 

“What? It deserves a cool name.” 

Rose just rolled her eyes.  

“Rey, I expect you to spend more time focusing on your training, is that understood?” Dr. Rax ordered. “Remember that you have much bigger enemies than burglars and parking violations.” 

Rey pressed her lips together, remembering her encounter with the Reverse Flash. “Yes, sir." 

“Good.” Dr. Rax exited the cortex as the three of them watched. When he was out of sight, Rey couldn’t help but burst out with her disquieted thoughts.  

“I just don’t understand why he wants me to get faster if I can save people now!” 

Finn sat down in his seat again, his forehead creased in a frown. “If you’re faster, you could save more people, and you would be less likely to get hurt.” 

“That’s true,” Rose agreed, “although he does seem kind of obsessed with it.” 

Rey pulled off the red gloves that made up part of her suit with a huff. “I’m sorry, guys. I know he’s trying to help. I just wish he could be a little more excited that we saved a bunch of kids today.” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Finn assured her. “We’re always here if you need to rant.” 

Rey laughed, even as she felt a twinge of guilt. Normally, she’d be ranting to Ben who listened with entirely too much patience. “Thanks, Finn.” Her phone chimed and she glanced down. “It’s Luke. My day job beckons.” 

“Alright, catch you later!” Finn called as she disappeared in a blur of motion. 

Rey zipped through the streets to the precinct, taking a rear entrance and dashing up the back stairs to her lab where she’d stashed a change of street clothes. She came to an abrupt halt in front of her desk, catching the stack of files that wobbled threateningly in the gust of wind she brought with her. 

“Oh, hi, Rey.” 

Rey shrieked and the files crashed to the ground in a landslide of paper. When she turned around, Rey saw Luke sitting on a chair in the far corner of her lab. She instinctively began to vibrate before she realized that he had called her  _Rey_ , not  _Flash_.  

“Hi, Luke.” She peeled off the mask, shifting her weight to one foot. “Um, what – how – “ 

“I’m a detective, remember, Rey?” Luke shook his head and stood up, dragging the chair back towards her desk. “And you’re not as subtle as you think.”  

“Oh.” 

He pulled out his phone. “Hmm, let’s see. Oh, look at this!  _Saved by the Flash: School Bus Rescue Saves Thirty Lives.”_  

He turned the screen towards her so that she could see the article tagged with Ben’s byline posted only seven minutes ago. There was a picture of her – sufficiently blurry to throw off facial recognition, but if someone was suspicious and they knew her, they could probably tell. 

“So does Ben know?” Luke asked conversationally even as Rey continued to gape like a fish. “He seems to have a really good source.” 

“No, he doesn’t,” Rey managed, still trying to figure out if she should run before or after knocking Luke out – both of which were extremely undesirable and unlikely options given her current state of paralysis. 

“Really? Huh. I would’ve figured that you’d definitely tell him even if you’re keeping secrets from your old uncle.” Luke slipped his phone back in his pocket and went to check the door to the lab before closing it so no one else would surprise them.  

“How’d you find out?” Rey asked, finally able to get a few words out.  

Luke gave her a lopsided smirk. “I’m old, Rey, but not senile. You’ve been acting odd since you woke up, spending a lot of time at S.T.A.R. Labs. Guess who else has been going there a lot? The Flash.” 

Rey sputtered, “But –” 

“I didn’t know for sure, of course, but it wasn’t hard to triangulate where the Flash kept running to and from every time she showed up.” 

Rey groaned, sinking down into her seat. 

Luke went over and stood looking at her crime board, which she noticed was rolled up to show her parents’ murder case. “It also reminded me of what you said about your parents. A man in the lightning, right?” 

He turned and met her eyes. She nodded.  

“You’re not the only one, are you?” 

Rey shook her head. “No. The Reverse Flash killed my parents. He’s like me.” 

Luke frowned, his eyes distant. “But there’s more, too. The bank robbery last week?” 

“Phasma and Hux. They’re metahumans with cold and fire abilities.” 

“Metahumans?” 

“People affected by the particle accelerator explosion. Like me.” 

“Ah.” 

He studied the crime board for a quiet minute. “I want to help you.” 

Rey looked up from where she’d been running a finger along a seam in her suit. “What?” 

“I want to help you find the Reverse Flash.” Luke turned back to her, clasping his hands in front. “I assume that’s what you’re going to do.” 

“Yes,” she admitted.  

“I’m sorry,” Luke said, settling on a stool nearby. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you before.” 

She gave him a soft smile, turning her chair back and forth. “You believed  _in_  me. That counts.” 

His posture relaxed. 

“So, you’re not going to arrest me or something?” Rey inquired.  

“Nope,” Luke grinned. “The Flash is a hero, as far as I’m concerned. Although, you really haven’t told Ben?” 

“No,” Rey mumbled. 

“He’s going to figure out, you know. Better you tell him than he finds out.” 

“I’ve been meaning to,” Rey defended.  

“Hmm, okay, then.” Luke stood. “Alright, I didn’t call you here to catch you in the act, although that was a nice bonus. You should really learn to case your environment.” 

Rey grimaced. 

“I actually have a case for you to consult on. Something’s come up in Coronet City, and it looks like it could be those two metahumans again.” 

“Coronet City? Like the Green Arrow’s Coronet City?” 

Luke raised an eyebrow. “Is there another Coronet City I’d be talking about?” 

“No.” 

“Well, you’d better get on over there.” 

~---~ 

Rey walked up to a group of frowning people in suits and uniform standing outside in an industrial district of Coronet City. The evening light glowed off of the building on the far side of the street. “Uh, hi. I’m Rey Allen, CSI with the Cloud City PD.” 

One of the uniforms turned around and smiled. “Oh yes, Ematt said you’d be coming. I’m Detective Lintra.” 

“Nice to meet you.” Rey took her hand and shook it.  

“Same. Let me introduce you to everyone else.” Lintra took her arm and pulled her into the circle. “This is D’Acy.” 

“Hello.” 

“And Kaydel Connix.”  

A pretty blonde in a green floral pencil skirt turned to her with a smile. “Hey.” 

“And this is Poe Dameron.” 

Rey immediately blushed to the roots of her hair, feeling self-conscious for her usual outfit of skinny jeans and button-down shirt. If she’d known that she was going to be meeting Coronet City’s most eligible billionaire bachelor, she might have worn something a little more stylish. 

“Oh, wow, Mr. Dameron. Pleasure to meet you.” 

“Oh, it’s just Poe,” he said with a grin. 

Lintra interrupted. “You’re here to look at the crime scene, right? Something similar to a case in Cloud City?” 

“Yes!” Rey exclaimed, grateful to get back to her job. “Do you mind showing me?” 

“We’d like to see, too.” 

“Right over here,” Lintra said, gesturing to the warehouse behind them, emblazoned with the logo for Dameron Consolidated.  _Well, that explains why he’s here_.  

“So the attempted break-in was here, through this doorway.” Lintra stopped in front of a door with a keypad. “Mr. Dameron?” 

“It’s Poe,” he repeated, but he input the code and the door unlocked. He gestured grandly as he pushed the door open. “Ladies?” 

D’Acy stayed outside as the other four went through. Inside, they were in a large vestibule before another door. This one, however, was scorched and warped as though it had been subject to a flame thrower, and then artic temperatures. Or maybe, two metahumans.  

“Whoever was trying to get in was stopped by the lockdown system,” Kaydel explained. 

“Or maybe the sprinklers,” Rey mused, stepping forward to look at the door and then the puddles on the concrete floor.  

“The sprinklers?” Kaydel asked, confused. 

“Uh, yeah. Did you get anything on camera?” Rey inquired, looking around to see if she could see any surveillance system. 

“Yes, but not much.” Kaydel pulled out a tablet and tapped it a few times before turning it towards Rey. “This is the footage from outside the door, but they shot the camera before coming into view.  _This_  is inside, but as you can see -” Kaydel and Rey bent closer to the screen. “They took out this camera with a flame thrower.” 

“Nope.” 

“What?” Lintra interjected. 

Rey blushed. “I mean, I don’t think so. Rewind it a little? Look, here. Nothing in his hands, right?” 

Everyone crowded closer. 

“It’s kind of blurry, don’t you think?” Lintra said doubtfully. 

Poe drew back. “What are you saying?” 

Rey hesitated. “Have you heard of the Flash in Cloud City?” 

“She’s actually real?” Kaydel asked, her tone disbelieving. 

“As real as the Green Arrow,” Rey retorted. Kaydel and Poe shared a glance. “There’s more people with powers. Criminals, too. We’ve encountered two, robbing a bank. One controls fire and one controls cold. I think they’re here now.” 

The others stared at her.  

“I know it sounds weird. And there’s not really a way to prove it, you kind of have to see it.” 

They were still staring. 

“Well, anyway. Do you know what they were trying to get at?” 

Kaydel coughed. “Well, this is a storage facility for one of Dameron Consolidated’s research and development divisions. There’s a lot in there, shelved projects and such. We have robotic prototypes, mirakuru antidotes, tachyon generators. Because they didn’t get in, we don’t really know what they wanted.” 

“Can we go in?” Rey pointed to the door. “Maybe if –” 

Gunshots rang out outside. Everyone turned towards the noise. 

“What’s going on D’Acy?” Lintra shouted into her radio. 

D’Acy’s voice crackled through the radio.  _“They’re back! You should get out of there.”_  

_“_ Alright, let’s go!” Poe cried, ushering them towards the damaged doors. He punched in the code and the doors creaked open. “Inside, now!” 

Rey didn’t want to listen, preferring to take on the two metas and win this time. But she couldn’t stay to pick a fight without doing some very awkward explanations, so she made to follow.  

Until Phasma kicked in the first door. 

“Ah, Mr. Dameron,” Phasma purred. “Could you show us the way to your tachyon generators? Please and thank you.” 

“Go, go!” Poe hissed. Rey decided she would, pushing through the second door after Detective Lintra and Kaydel, barely taking in the amazing tech filling the neat and orderly space. She ducked behind a shelf and changed into her suit in a crack of lightning, racing back into the room –  

Where Poe Dameron was holding a bow, a green arrow fitted to the string.  

“Arrow?” Rey breathed. 

“Flash?” Poe asked in a gravelly voice, his eyebrows raised.  

“Well, I didn’t expect everyone to be here,” Phasma drawled, “but now that we’re all together, I was wanting to ask where your tachyon generators are.” Deadly sharp icicles formed in her hands, steaming in the air. 

“We need to borrow them for a friend,” Hux smirked, flickers of flame running over his hands and up his arms. “And he needs them now.” 

“I don’t think so,” Rey snapped, disguising her voice. 

“Actually, it doesn’t matter what you think,” Phasma declared, taking a step forward. “We’re just going to –” 

Before she finished speaking, Hux’s hands burst into flames and he tossed a ball of fire at Poe, who launched his arrow at the same moment.  

“Hux!” Phasma shouted, her voice taking on an angry, chilled echo.  

Hux deflected Poe’s arrow, causing it to burst into flames. “You were talking too long.” 

“Idiot,” Phasma fumed.  

Rey dodged an icicle that hurtled towards her. “Leave, Phasma.” 

“Sure, just as soon as we get what we came for,” Hux stated smugly, letting the fire on his hands drip onto the floor. 

“Leave. Now.” Dameron had another three arrows pulled back, ready to shoot.  

“Not. Yet.” Phasma smirked. 

Rey growled. Again with the banter – Rey was done. Lightning crackled, and she burst forward, intending to take them down for real this time. 

But for the second time in one day, she had forgotten to case her environment. The water that was still pooled on the floor had frozen into a skating rink when Phasma had entered, so instead of apprehending her, Rey ended up skidding into her at high speed so they landed in a heap on the floor. Unfortunately, Phasma was on top and she wasted no time in trying to freeze Rey to the floor.  

But Rey had learned, and this time she began to vibrate before Phasma could encase her in ice. 

What Rey expected to happen was that she’d vibrate to counteract Phasma’s powers and twist away from her grip. What actually happened was that when Rey’s body began to blur, she slipped through the blonde woman’s grip and then  _through_  Phasma herself.  

Both Rey and Phasma stared at each other for a moment.  

“So now you can turn into a ghost, too?” Phasma griped. Rey just stammered, her shock mirrored in Phasma’s expression. 

An explosion broke apart their staring contest, both of them jerking around to look towards where Poe and Hux were fighting. Poe launched another explosive arrow at Hux, but the redhead merely stepped aside and let the resulting flames wash over him.  

“Nice miss,” Hux snipped as fire wreathed his body. Poe decided evidently to change tactics, aiming his next arrow at Phasma. 

“Hux!” Phasma shouted, back on her feet. She thrust her hands out, creating a blast of cold and ice spray. Hux responded with a jet of flame that collided with the frozen air, instantly filling the room with vapor. 

When the fog cleared, the Flash and the Arrow were left staring at each other, alone. 

~---~ 

Rey had never even dreamed of seeing the Arrowcave, but it was just as dark, gloomy, and high tech as she would have imagined. 

“This is awesome,” Rey gushed, taking in the many consoles scrolling with data readouts and the various assorted weapon stockpiles and the well-equipped training area. She turned to Poe. “You’re really the Green Arrow?” 

“Yup,” Poe grinned. “And it is pretty awesome.” 

“Always so modest,” Kaydel interjected, sitting at one of the computer screens, typing furiously.

“Kaydel keeps me from wasting time and doing stupid things,” Poe explained to Rey. “She’s at least five times smarter than I am.” 

“Mmm hmm,” Kaydel agreed. “So, Flash, do we have to worry about more metahumans coming to Coronet City?” 

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Rey admitted. “And just Rey is fine. Phasma and Hux are the only ones I’ve encountered so far.” 

“They said they had a friend. Someone who needed the tachyon generators,” Poe said. “Any idea who they were talking about?” 

“Oh,” Rey grimaced. “They’re probably talking about the Reverse Flash – he's kind of my nemesis. I don’t know what he’d want with tachyons though.” 

“Aren’t you a little new to this hero thing to have an archenemy?” Kaydel asked. “You only got your powers a month ago.” 

“I guess not.” Rey shrugged. “It’s kind of complicated.” 

Poe cleared his throat. “It may seem like a dumb question to ask now, but what are tachyons.” 

“As far as we know they’re fairly theoretical,” Rey explained. “Tachyons are particles that travel faster than the speed of light and have massive amounts of energy, way more than a nuclear missile. Think enough energy to rip the space-time continuum.” 

“You know your stuff,” Kaydel complimented her, turning back to her screen when a chime sounded. “Look, this is a list of all the places that have been researching tachyons. The only other laboratory in America right now is Mercury Labs, run by a Dr. Holdo. Actually, it’s in Cloud City.” 

“Cloud City?” Rey asked, scanning the list. 

“Yes. Makes sense that since they were stopped trying to get the generators here twice, they might try to hit a target on their own territory, Flash or no Flash,” Poe mused. 

“Then I’ve got to go,” Rey said. “Thanks for everything.” 

“Sure. Keep in touch,” Kaydel ordered. 

“See you, Flash,” Poe said with a wink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is not dead! I just seriously screwed over my outline so I had to figure out what happened next... which I know now, so this story has an ending again! Woohoo!
> 
> I also posted another one shot under _Jitters and Other Stories_ , so check out the next part of this series if you're interested.
> 
> I anticipate an update within two weeks...


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on [tumblr](https://a-nerd-obsessed.tumblr.com)

Finn was completely hysterical, and Rey was a little frightened by him right then if she was being honest. Rose just looked exhausted. 

“You met the Green Arrow? Like,  _the Green Arrow_?” Finn shrieked, his question echoing off the high ceiling of the cortex at S.T.A.R. Labs.

“Yup.”

“I can’t even right now!” Finn let go of his grip on her arms and threw his hands up in the air. Rey, meanwhile, rubbed her arms to try and return normal blood flow to her fingers.

“Babe, you sound too much like a white girl right now. Take a few deep breaths for me, okay?” Rose admonished.

Finn dropped into a chair so that it rolled back a few feet on its wheels, his legs splayed out in front of him. “Just, wow! Okay, sorry, I’ve got it under control.” Finn visibly relaxed his face and let out a long breath.

“Wait a second. Babe? When did that happen?” Rey accused, turning on Rose, who colored.

“Um, well, uh, last night?” Rose stammered. Rey grinned. Rose never stammered, so this had to be a good thing.

“It’s about damn time,” Rey declared.

“Hey!” Finn protested.

“Yeah, whatever. So why haven’t I heard about this?”

“Well, it’s kind of recent.”

“Yeah, last night, I know. A whole twelve hours ago.”

“Well,” Rose explained. “Finn asked me out for coffee. Finally.”

“Finally?” Finn demanded, his eyes wide. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means  _took you long enough_!”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.  _Oh_ ,” Rose answered, rolling her eyes. “Anyway, I’m glad you’re alright, Rey. Now we’ve got to figure out this tachyon business.”

“Yes,” Rey agreed. “But don’t think we’re done talking about this.”

Finn grinned. “Rose got a caramel latte with extra expresso. There. Satisfied?”

“No,” Rey answered. “But honestly that's somewhat surprising.”

“I have to put up with him somehow,” Rose defended. “Sugar and caffeine help a lot.”

“Ow, babe!”

“Grow up.”

“Okay!” Rey clapped her hands together. “Tachyons. Hux and Phasma. What can we do?”

“Where did you say they were going to hit next?” Rose asked.

“Mercury Labs here in Cloud City,” Rey supplied. “Kaydel also gave us blueprints and schematics for their facility so we can try to figure out how they’ll get in.”

“I could’ve gotten those,” Rose sniffed.

“She couldn’t say no to the Green Arrow’s systems analyst,” Finn soothed her.

“Sure, fine,” Rose replied. “I’ve already got the satellite monitoring for any unusual temperature fluctuations in the city. I’ve also tapped into Mercury Labs’ security feeds so we can see what they can see.”

“Any idea how soon they’ll strike again?” Finn questioned.

“They don’t seem to like to wait long between jobs,” Rey mused. “They hit that warehouse in Coronet City pretty soon after they hit the bank here.”

“We should do a stakeout,” Rose suggested. “We can get Luke in on it since he has experience with stakeouts.”

“Luke?” Rey asked, looking between Finn and Rose.

“Yeah, we know he figured you out,” Rose smirked. “He stopped by yesterday when you were out of town.”

“Oh,” Rey blushed. 

“Yeah, well, it’s probably a good thing,” Finn said. “Now you just need to tell Ben –”

“No,” Rey declared vehemently. “Not yet.”

Rose sighed. “Okay, well, it’s up to you. Anyway, I set up this alert app for our phones in case something happens we can contact S.T.A.R. Labs and Rey whenever we need the Flash. It’ll be super helpful while we’re on the stakeout so Rey doesn’t have to be there constantly.”

“I’ll get the van,” Finn said, jumping up.

“Where’s Dr. Rax?” Rey inquired as Finn scurried off.

“He took the day off,” Rose explained. “He does that sometimes, since the accident.”

“Oh,” Rey said.

“He’ll probably be back tomorrow.” Rose shrugged, already absorbed in whatever she was typing rapidly into the console.

“I’m going to go call Luke.” Rey started to walk off into one of the adjacent rooms to make her call, then stopped. “Hey, what are we going to do if we catch them? We can’t stick them in jail.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Rose said without glancing up. “I’ve got it taken care of.”

And Rey didn’t doubt her.

~---~ 

Rey quickly decided that being stuck in a van with Finn for several hours was a bad idea. Forget any dreams of road trips with her new pals because there was no way that could end well. Besides, now that Rey could run faster than a Japanese bullet train, there was really no point to driving anywhere, really.

“I’ve developed a distinct craving for Oreo Thins,” Finn announced shortly after midnight.

“What?” Rey asked wearily.

“Oreo Thins. Light, crisp, addictive. God’s gift to dieters everywhere.”

“What diet includes Oreo Thins?”

“I don’t know, but they’re what I need right now so don't knock them till you try them.”

“Yeah, okay.” Rey went back to monitoring the video feeds displayed on the screens before her. 

“How long do you think we’re going to be out here?” Finn asked for the third time in an hour. “Not that I want Mercury Labs to get robbed, but I kind of want to get this over with, you know?”

“Mmm hmm.”

“You know what else? Light pollution is a crime against humanity, by humanity. I could be stargazing right now, but no. Damn streetlights.”

Rey tuned him out, focusing on the screens. She couldn’t help but check the time in the corner of one of the displays.  _Only ten minutes_ _have passed_ _?_  Rey was now eternally grateful that CSIs didn’t have to participate in stakeouts. This was slowly killing her.

The screens flickered – or was that her eyes? Rey blinked a few times, trying to wake herself up. But no, it happened again – right there. 

“Hey, Finn.”

“What’s up?”

“Is the security system still up in the building?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Look.”

Finn peered over her shoulder to where she pointed. In the security feed, they could see the storage facility full of neatly labeled shelves of prototypes and crates. Embedded in the far wall was a clear glass vault holding a tall cylindrical storage unit. In front of the vault, a man in a yellow suit appeared in a blur. He stood still for a beat, apparently looking into the vault before he began to vibrate at a high frequency. When he stepped forward and through the vault wall, both Rey and Finn gasped.

“Holy sh–”  

“That’s what I did the other day!”

“Wait, what?” Finn exclaimed.

“I don’t know, okay? I just went  _through_  stuff. I’ll tell you about it later – but I’ve got to get in there, okay?” Rey leapt up and threw open the back of the van, jumping onto the asphalt across the street from Mercury Labs.

“Rey, wait! Isn’t that the Reverse Flash? You can’t go in there alone!”

“Finn, call for back up!”

Rey dashed away from Finn and his protestations. When she came to the doors, she put her hand on the lock and vibrated until it was dislodged, repeating the same maneuver on the following doors. Rey wasn’t confident enough that she could walk through walls or whatever. Besides, it was probably a good thing if she tripped a few alarms.

She slid to a halt in front of the vault and the Reverse Flash turned to face her, holding a smaller cylinder that fit in the palm of his hand. His body vibrated, making it impossible to see his face clearly under the mask as he stepped back through the glass.

_“Flash.”_

“Put the tachyons back,” Rey demanded, clenching her fists.

_“We’re so close_ _to the ending. Or the beginning, depending on how you look at it_ _,”_ the Reverse Flash rumbled, his quiet words almost lost in the large open space of the storage room. 

“Excuse me?”

_“Don’t worry, we’ll meet again very soon, Flash.”_  

Before Rey could open her mouth to retort, the Reverse Flash blasted past, throwing Rey back to crash into the wall, knocking over a row of canisters with a clang.

“Rey! Rey! You alright?” Finn asked over the comm in her mask.

“Yes,” she answered, clambering to her feet. She retraced her path into the facility at a sprint, stopping in the street to look both ways. “Finn, where’d he go?”

“I don’t know,” Finn replied. “I didn’t get a lock on him and the satellite isn’t picking up any tachyon signature in the city.”

Rey let out a scream of frustration as the sound of police sirens closing in reached her ears. 

“I’m sorry, Rey,” Finn said. “You’ve got to bail.”

Rey let out a long breath. “I’m heading back to the lab. Meet you there.”

“Alright,” Finn answered as Rey dashed away.

~---~ 

Rose stepped through the sliding doors into the elevator bay with a yawn, gripping a ridiculously large coffee cup in one hand. Luke walked off the elevator beside her, his gray hair rumpled as if he had just gotten out of bed, which he probably had since it was only five in the morning and he and Rose had only finished their turn at the stakeout nine hours earlier. Rey was waiting for them, pacing back and forth in the elevator until she saw them emerge on the cortex level.

“Finally, someone’s here,” Rey exclaimed, turning and charging down the hall towards the cortex.

“Hey, slow up. I’m only sixty percent awake so far,” Rose mumbled through her coffee.

“What happened?” Luke asked, looking alert despite his lack of grooming.

“It wasn’t Phasma and Hux,” Rey said, continuing to pace once she reached the cortex. “It was the Reverse Flash.”

Luke and Rose stopped behind the bank of computers that made up the control station.

“The Reverse Flash?” Luke asked. “When?”

“Just now!” Rey threw up her hands. “He came for the tachyons, and he stole them and just disappeared!”

“That sucks,” Rose said. Rey paused her pacing to shoot a glare at Rose. “Sorry, the caffeine hasn’t kicked in yet.”

Luke’s eyebrows crinkled together. “So is the Reverse Flash working with Phasma and Hux or did he just get there first?”

Rey thought a moment. “I think they might be working together. In Coronet City, Phasma mentioned that  _he_  wouldn’t be happy.”

“That’s discouraging,” Rose said. “And we still don’t know what they want with them.”

“I might be able to help out with that.”

The three turned to see Finn standing sheepishly behind two familiar figures and one unfamiliar with purple hair. Rey had recognized the voice who had spoken immediately as Leia, Ben’s mother, but she was still surprised to see her actually standing there.

“Leia? And Han?”

“Hey, kid.”

“It seems that you might need some help,” Leia said. “And we could use yours as well.”

It took a couple of hours of explaining and introductions, but it turned out that Rey was not the only one who had kept secrets in the Skywalker-Solo clan.

Leia worked for an off-the-books government organization called ARGUS. Han sort of did too, as a special contractor.

“Don’t butter it up,” Han grinned. “I’m a smuggler. And it’s great.”

“I was trying to help your reputation. And you need all the help you can get,” Leia snipped.

“Hey! I’m a great smuggler.”

Leia raised an eyebrow. “That was never in question until you brought it up.”

Han huffed. Rey snickered.

Then the other woman was introduced to the group. 

“This is my friend, Amilyn Holdo,” Leia explained. “She’s the director of Mercury Labs where the tachyons were stolen from earlier this morning. When the theft occurred, she reached out to me for help.”

“And when we reviewed the security footage,” Han interrupted, “we saw that Rey here was involved too.”

“Wait,” Finn jumped in, “you knew about Rey?” He turned to Rey. “I thought you said you didn’t tell anyone besides Luke.”

“I didn’t,” she agreed, turning a suspicious eye on Luke.

“He didn’t tell,” Leia dismissed with a wave of her hand. “We already knew.”

Han shrugged with a lopsided smile. “Sorry, kid.”

“When you work with ARGUS, you find out a lot of things,” Leia said. “Just out of curiosity, does Ben know?”

“No.” Rey shifted her feet.

“Really?” Han blurted. “Wow, kid, you got it bad.”

“Han!” Leia scolded, slapping her husband’s arm. Finn also looked like he was about to chime in before Rose elbowed him in the stomach.

“What?” Rey dared. “I know what you’re all thinking, but it’s not that. It’s just – he's the reporter covering the Flash for the paper and it’d be really difficult to explain.”

“Not really. You just say, ‘I’m the Flash!’ and be done with it,” Han supplied helpfully.

“Han.” Leia’s voice was lower but all the more threatening for it. “You know we’ve got no grounds to say that when we haven’t told him what we do either.”

“Okay, okay.”

“And Rey, we’d appreciate if you don’t tell him about us either. It’s not safe.”

Rey groaned inwardly at the thought of keeping another secret from Ben, but she nodded.

“Anyway, back to why we’re here,” Leia continued smoothly. “We can’t let the tachyons stay in possession of an unknown quantity.”

“Yes,” Holdo spoke up. “We need to retrieve the tachyons as swiftly as possible. They’re highly unstable if not properly contained. Especially since we know what else he was after.”

“Wait, he stole more than just the tachyons?” Rose questioned.

“No, but he attempted to. See, before you arrived, Rey, he was trying to get into a storage unit for a tachyon infuser. We think he wasn’t able to phase through the storage container. It’s made of an extremely dense material because we were worried about contamination between tests. He tried, but it seemed like he gave up before you showed up and focused taking the tachyons.”

“So, the Reverse Flash has the tachyons, but he still needs the tachyon infuser for whatever he has planned,” Dr. Rax said.

Everyone turned to see Dr. Rax in his wheelchair just inside the cortex’s entrance.

“Dr. Rax!” Rey exclaimed. “You’re back.”

“It is tomorrow,” Dr. Rax answered, moving his chair forward. “I never stay away long.” He directed his eyes towards the woman with purple hair. “Holdo.”

“Rax.”

No one moved as the two rival PhDs glared at each other. Rey stepped forward in the silence that followed. “Um, Dr. Rax, this is Leia Organa and Han Solo.”

“Nice to finally make your acquaintance,” Dr. Rax replied. “The flowers you sent to Rey during her coma were lovely.”

Rey was taken aback at the undertone of hostility but pushed forward. “So, what are we going to do?”

“Ah, yes,” Leia said. “We were hoping we could use your help to set a trap.”

“A trap?” Finn asked. “What do you mean?”

“Like I said earlier, we can’t have the Reverse Flash running around with tachyons, especially when he’s planning to do something with them. We were hoping to lure him in using the tachyon infuser as bait,” Leia proposed.

“But we can’t do it at my facility. There’s too many working staff and ongoing research that could be harmed. Fortunately, this building is mostly abandoned and already in disrepair so the collateral damage will be minimal,” Holdo explained. Rey glanced over to see Dr. Rax still frowning, but that wasn’t unusual.

“How would we trap him though?” Rey asked. “He can literally walk through walls.”

“I’ve got a few ideas,” Rose piped up. 

“Excellent. How long do you need?” Leia asked.

“Twelve hours?” Rose suggested.

“Done,” Leia conceded. 

“I’ll work on setting up a transport for the tachyon infuser,” Holdo added.

“Alright, team,” Han grinned. “Let’s get cracking!”

~---~

“You alright?” Rose asked, tinkering with a control panel hooked up to the gigantic contraption she had assembled throughout the day.

“Yeah,” Rey replied, tossing aside the ice pack she had been using on her forehead. “It doesn’t really hurt.”

“I don’t mean about bouncing off the forcefield,” Rose said, turning to look at her friend. “Although that was pretty funny, you’ve got to admit.”

“Maybe a little,” Rey allowed, slipping a small smile. Rose had asked her to try to phase through the forcefield she’d created. The forcefield was generated by giant rings standing on end around the room that contained massive energy coils. Rey had been practicing phasing earlier that day and had managed to get it down, but when she tried it on the forcefield, she had ricocheted off the pulsing blue energy screen.

“I meant if you were okay with seeing the Reverse Flash again.”

“I guess,” Rey sighed. “I have to be, right? He said he’d always find me.”

Rose snorted. “Yes, but he’s a major creep, and apparently your nemesis, and you don’t have to be okay with facing him. I’d be worried if you weren’t a little unbalanced by it.”

“We just have to get him this time. Before he does anything else.”

“Agreed,” Rose said firmly, just as Rey’s phone buzzed. She glanced down at her phone as saw a message from Ben.

“Damn it.”

“What?”

“Ben wants to meet up tonight and talk about the theft at Mercury Labs.”

Rose shot her a meaningful glance. “You know what I think.”

“I know, and I will. Just, maybe after we put away the Reverse Flash.”

Rose held up a finger. “Not maybe. You will tell him.”

Rey sighed. “Okay, fine. I’ll tell him. After this is over.”

“Good.” Rose turned back and tapped in a few lines of code. “Well, we’re good on my end. All we need is the bait.”

“Right here,” Han said, sauntering into the room with Luke and Leia just behind him. He held up a thick stainless-steel briefcase. “We’ve got the bait.”

“Don’t wave that thing around,” Leia hissed beside him. “It’s very delicate, and we want to return it to Holdo intact.”

“Where is the good doctor?” Rax asked, wheeling into the room behind them.

“I recommended that Holdo stay at Mercury Labs for her safety,” Luke said, putting his hand on his sidearm. “The fewer people in the building, the better.”

Rax nodded, then turned to Rose. “Are we ready?”

“Yup.”

The alarms blared and red lights flashed. 

“What’s that?” Luke asked, his eyes darting around the room.

“Perimeter breach,” Finn shouted through the comm from the cortex upstairs. “We need to –”

Before anybody had time to think, red lightning crackled in the room, dissipating to reveal the Reverse Flash.

“Uh, Rey?” Rose queried, but Rey had already launched herself at the intruder. Luke and Leia pulled out their weapons and began to fire rapidly, but all their shots went wide as Rey and the Reverse Flash tore through the room at a speed to fast for the eye to see. Han pulled Rose and Dr. Rax behind him, trying to shelter them and the briefcase in all the chaos. Wind whipped through the room in the wake of the speedsters, forcing the remaining people in the room crouch down to protect themselves.

“Rey!” Rose screamed into the gale. “The trap!”

Rey was dodging a vicious punch as she attempted to slip away from the man in the yellow suit, but Rose’s words managed to sink in. Rey took a lightning fast glance at the containment unit, deactivated for now. She would have to time it correctly, otherwise she would be trapped in the energy field with him. 

Rey waited until she saw Rose force her way through the wind to the control panel. Lightning crackled around their fight as Rey tried to keep the Reverse Flash distracted, running around the perimeter of the room. She groaned as he landed a hit on her stomach, sure that these injuries would take a while to heal in spite of her powers. 

Another quick glance assured her that Rose was in place. Rey wrenched away from the Reverse Flash’s grasp into the center of the room. The man in the yellow suit followed, forcing her to keep defending herself, but they were in the containment zone.

“Rose! Now!” 

Rey watched as Rose turned on the forcefield, and in the fraction of a second that energy screen flickered to life, Rey shoved the Reverse Flash and bolted away. 

Rey turned to see the Reverse Flash trapped in the containment field, staring at her. 

“Guys!” Finn burst into the room, gasping after having run down from the cortex. “The Reverse Flash – oh.”

Rey didn’t realize it earlier but she’d been hoping for some display of anger or frustration when he was caught, but the Reverse Flash wasn’t eager to comply. Instead, he stood still in that powerful masculine posturing that always irritated her to no end.

“ _Flash_.”

Rey walked up to the forcefield. “We have you. It’s over.”

The Reverse Flash ignored her, instead turning his head to scan the room. “ _Leia Organa. Luke Skywalker. Finn Storm._ _Gallius_ _Rax. Rose Tico. Han Solo._ ” He spoke slowly, his words smug. “ _It’s been so long since I’ve seen you all together. It’s... exciting.”_

Luke stepped forward. “Who are you?”

The Reverse Flash locked eyes with him. “ _I am exactly who you think I am_.”

Luke didn’t often get angry, at least not in front of Rey, but she could see in the taut skin around his eyes that he was furious. “And who is that?”

“ _I am the Reverse Flash.”_

_“_ Why did you kill my parents?” Rey shouted, demanding that he finally answer her.

“ _You already know, Flash_.”

“Then just say it!” Rey stood right up to the forcefield and glared up at him, ignoring the faint hum of energy separating them.

“ _That’s not why we’re here.”_

Another alarm blared, but Rey ignored it. 

“Rey! The containment field, it’s fail–”

Rey’s eyes widened as the blue energy flickered and vanished, leaving her face to face with her nemesis. He cocked his head, and Rey could almost feel his smugness.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. She wasn’t ready when he flew into action. By the time she turned around, all her friends were taken out, sprawled unconscious on the floor. Except Dr. Rax, whom he was in the process of beating into the ground. Dr. Rax cried out in pain.

Any disagreements or disquiet she’d had with Dr. Rax were inconsequential in that moment. He’d saved her life, trained her, and looked out for her even when he had nothing left, no reason to care.

And the Reverse Flash had taken enough from her any.

“No!”

She launched herself at him, pulling him away from Dr. Rax. The Reverse Flash snarled a laugh when she tried a right cross. Instead of engaging, he zipped away, snatching up the briefcase that Han had been holding and disappearing in a crackle of lightning.

_Not this time,_  she promised herself.

Rey followed him, speeding through S.T.A.R. Labs and onto the street. It was dark, streetlights casting the city in a yellow glow. He was fast, a lot faster, already putting distance between them. Rey pushed harder, breaths coming in hard gasps, arms and legs pumping against air and asphalt. She could feel the speedforce lifting her, stretching her out. The lightning around her snapped with a force of a whiplash as she dodged vehicles and cut corners in pursuit of the man in the yellow suit. 

A flicker of color – not lightning – made her glance to the side as the city flew by. She saw a reflection of herself, a refraction of the energy churning around her. She smiled grimly to herself and pushed on.

Rey was running faster than she ever had before, but it still wasn’t enough. She could feel her limbs starting to slow. She screamed into the wind, stretching out her fingers, but it was useless.

She had lost him.

The Reverse Flash had slipped through her fingers for the fourth time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! And yeah I'm going to stop promising updates because obviously I can't deliver, especially now that I have four classes to keep up with and a thesis to propose. Because of that, I have to prioritize my main fic so it really depends on how my workload stabilizes and my time management works.
> 
> BUT.
> 
> It is all outlined, so we'll finish in the planned 18 chapters.
> 
> All that aside, please leave me a comment or a kudos if you like what you read! Until next time...

**Author's Note:**

> Hey hey! Leave a kudos or a comment to let me know what you think (and point out any typos... yikes!) Even better, subscribe and share this story on [tumblr](https://a-nerd-obsessed.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> Updates will happen, but I'll probably get a better sense of how often once we're further into this Nanowrimo thing :)


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